Read the Fine Print: Who Owns and Controls Farm Data? (Indiantown Independent)

Read the Fine Print: Who Owns and Controls Farm Data?

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, data derived from farms might be more valuable than the growers of the crop produce. That’s because farmers can make money from their data when companies use it for other purposes, says a University of Florida scientist.

The key for producers is to take ownership of their data. To do so, they might have to read the fine print in the contracts with the ag firms.

“Once farmers own their original data, and give their consent for any access, disclosure or use, they can receive long-term income of their data harvest,” said Ziwen Yu, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering.

Yu co-authored a new UF/IFAS Extension document that describes who owns farm-generated data. Other authors of the document are Albert De Vries, a UF/IFAS professor of animal sciences in Gainesville and Yiannis Ampatzidis, a UF/IFAS associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee.

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