Mar. 7, 2019

In the 191th edition of the Paristech journal of Telecom, Sara Clignet and Daniel Kofman, speak about the legal issues of agricultural data.

 

Farmers were among the first to use digital services, namely GPS systems for truly granular farming (subscriptions are defined in centimetres) of fields with their tractors.

Today, tractors process vast amounts of information such as plant maturity, humidity, diseases, soil or climate. Connected livestock such as cattle, give valuable information, and tomorrow these data will come from pigs or poultry.

These data provide abundant qualitative and quantitative information, and improve energy use, water, crop protection products, which help the farmer save time and make decisions. But, wait. Who owns all this data? The farmer? The company that collects and processes the data? The data hosting platform? In reality, these data are in a legal vacuum.

The authors recommend that the data be stored in a neutral repository. This solution guarantees data anonymity, storage, security, traceability and conformity for better sharing and use and creates value for farmers.

Read the article : Ag-Tech-Revue Telecom 2018