Janzen Contributes to "Eyes in the Sky" Story on Farm Data Privacy

Did you know that farmers generate more than 10 MB of data per acre between the planting, application and harvest passes made in the field? Margy Eckelkamp, reporter for Farm Journal’s Ag Web, shared this statistic as part of her story “Eyes In the Sky: Be Aware of Data Collected About Your Farm.” The story discussed ag data collection and what farmer consent is - or isn’t - required for gathering a farm’s data.

Todd Janzen is an expert on the topic of ag data collection and was interviewed for this story to help farmers better understand the dynamics of data collection.

Janzen pointed out in the story that there is still a big expectation of privacy in the data farmers generate themselves. “But for data that is available publicly, there’s no court that would say there’s an expectation of privacy in that data,” he says. For example, Janzen cites the Open Fields doctrine stating anything visible in an open field that can be seen by the public comes with no expectation of privacy.

The story provides interesting background and examples worthy of a read for those interested in ag data privacy. Link here to read the AgWeb story.