GrainsWest Fall 2018

Fall 2018 grainswest.com 21 be willing to share, but wants to ensure it lands in the right hands? In the case of basic data security against general breaches, Schmaltz stresses the importance of security practices with customers, including selecting a reputable cloud service as well as redundancy in backup and browser encryption. As for data security that ensures farm information lands in the right hands, Schmaltz said farmers have the advantage. “For very specific farm information, there’s definite value there. What a farm is producing has an impact on a lot of different businesses,” he said. For instance, his company gives farmers the opportunity to benefit from the sale of their own data. Earlier this year, the company started a program to pay producers $4 an acre for their data when they signed up for Decisive Farming variable rate technology services on malt barley acres. “We’re clear with farmers that they own the data and they are able to benefit by being able to share their data with trusted service providers,” said Schmaltz. He added that farmers are now asked by seed companies, lenders, input providers and statisticians to share cropping data at no charge, which suggests there could be opportunities to monetize this information as they come to appreciate the value of their own data. Maintaining overall trust and security is critical for any service provider, said Schmaltz. Fred Wall, marketing vice-president with Farm Credit Canada (FCC), agrees. FCC recently became the first Canadian company to receive the ADT seal for its commitment to safeguarding farmers’ data collected through its AgExpert software. The commercial Crown corporation released its new web-based version AgExpert Field earlier this year and is expected to launch a web-based version of its farm financial software, AgExpert Accounting, in the near future. AgExpert Field now enables a farmer to record, share and analyze field data—such as inputs, yields and conditions—from their phone. “Transparency and integrity are fundamental to what we do,” said Wall. “We want our customers, the producers, to know we are taking this seriously. Third-party verification shows they can trust us with their information.” For Janzen, it’s another step in the coming of age story of ag data security. “All the companies and organizations that designed ADT understood the need for transparency and trust in the ag precision sector,” he said. “They knew that data and analysis will continue to change and improve agriculture, but that the producer deserves to work with credible data partners. Certification shows a commitment to the producers, the backbone of the ag industry.” As data security technology continues to develop in agriculture, it’s expected farmers will become more familiar with handling it, recognizing its value and perhaps finding ways to monetize the data, all the while keeping their farm information protected and secured.