This week’s installment of “The Big Data Confusion” highlights “Notice”. According to the Privacy and Security Principles for Farm Data, “farmers must be notified that their data is being collected and about how the farm data will be disclosed and used. This notice must be provided in an easily located and readily accessible format.” A key component to any ATP contract agreement is the specifications of how and when data is being collected, and how and for what that data will be used for.
In addition to all other parts of a contract agreement, the notice to farmers should be clearly expressed. This notice can come in the form of an explicit statement, page, or separate document. The notice should be very obvious, perhaps using language to attract the reader’s (in this case, the grower’s) attention. Today, many apps are using a special screen requiring the user to acknowledge how the app can use data (see photo). Some sort of similar notice needs to be provided to growers when singing data contracts with Ag Technology Providers. Next week’s installment will focus on transparency, which ties in nicely with the need to provide specific data collection and use information to growers. The notice should use contain obvious and transparent verbiage so that no question is left as to how data is being used and by whom