Our Data Road Map: A Look at Ag Data in Canada
/Country Guide Magazine of Canada recently interviewed Todd Janzen for an article about the Ag Data Transparent effort and data collection in Canada.
Canada is awash in agricultural data that’s not being used to its full potential by farmers, researchers, or the government. Now, work has begun to try and improve that situation.
“There’s a lot of information that exists electronically, but we need to give farmers control of their data so they can use it and flow it to others while reducing the burden of their paperwork,” says Karen Hand, founder and president of Precision Strategic Solutions. Hand is also director of research data strategy for the Food From Thought program at the University of Guelph.
Currently, she says, farmers don’t really own their own data. Many agricultural technology companies say the information they collect is the farmers’ property. But they don’t have transparent explanations on their websites — or in service contracts — as to what that claim actually means.
Hand adds that the work currently being done by the U.S. non-profit Ag Data Transparent (ADT) is a good start — at least towards building trust with farmers about the way their data is collected and used.
Continue reading at Country Guide: Our Data Road Map
