Farmobile announces pro-farmer agreements to bring unparalleled transparency to agronomic data

Farmobile, the fast-growing technology company specializing in farm data, announces pro-farmer legal agreements that clearly govern the ownership and control of agronomic data for the first time. The data agreements are simple and transparent by design, and grant full data ownership to the farmer. The agreements were strategically designed with farmers and distributors in mind and are freely available for viewing and downloading at farmobile.com/legal.

Data ownership is one of the most critical issues for farmers and distributors this year. Precision agriculture, sensor technology and big data have revolutionized farming, but legal agreements have not kept stride with the pace of innovation. Today, there is no standard practice for agronomic data ownership or control agreements. Legal documents largely follow the example of social networks and other modern consumer technologies whereby users opt-in to voluntarily share their data, but many are unclear on precisely what is being given up. Companies with permission to access or acquire users’ data are free to monetize it any way they like or use it for marketing purposes.

“Agronomic data and social data are not equals; it’s time that legal documents clearly state their intent and clarify data control and ownership,” said Jason Tatge, CEO of Farmobile. “Too many legal agreements in agriculture are unclear, ambiguous or even contradictory. Data ownership should be simple: data collected from a farm belongs to the farmer. Our new data agreements represent the dawning of a new era in AgTech transparency.”

The new legal agreements were developed as a result of farmer feedback heard time and time again, and were purposefully designed to address farmers’ concerns in an effort to de-risk the adoption of new technologies.

“If you've ever seen yield maps of your fields, then someone else has already had access to your data. The question is what happens to your data after you receive your map. Many farmers are confused about data ownership: who actually has access to their data, what data they have access to, and how they use it,” continued Tatge. “Our goal with our new agreements is to vastly simplify the traditional data agreement between Agricultural Technology Providers (ATPs) and farmers in an effort to build trust and strengthen relationships. We believe farmers own the rights to the data produced from their local knowledge, carefully planned input decisions, and equipment they use in their fields. We are doing the right things for the right reasons. It’s that simple.”

Farmobile is a company that specializes in the seamless collection, storage and processing of data from farmers’ machines using an easy-to-install, pre-configured PUC device and an included cellular plan. The company gives farmers independent and transparent revenue-generating data models.