Winter
2016
Grains
West
28
dealers provide producers with the
transparency they seek.
“Canadian privacy legislation is years
ahead of where they are in the United
States,” said John Schmeiser, CEO of
WEDA. “When Canada updated its
federal legislation regarding protection
of privacy, where we got involved is
that we put privacy documents in place
and prepared sample documents for
Canadian equipment dealers to use to
ensure that they were protecting the
customer’s data and information.”
At the time they were created, the
documents were related primarily
to customer information, such as
social insurance numbers and credit
information. “When some of the major
manufacturers started producing GPS-
enabled equipment and launched
precision agriculture initiatives, we
immediately saw that our equipment
dealers were collecting customer data
beyond just their personal information
… like crop yield and equipment
performance,” Schmeiser said.
As a result, in 2013, WEDA came up
with a new set of documents for dealers
to use that would clearly outline how a
dealer was going to protect a customer’s
data and information, as well as a release
from the customer about how the dealer
would use that information.
“Our position is that it’s the customer
who owns the data and information, and
what we’ve put together is a series of
documents that outline how we’re going
to protect their data and information, but
also what are the limited uses of the data
and information going to be in the repair
of equipment,” said Schmeiser.
Most John Deere dealers are on board,
Schmeiser added. The association is
currently working with Case IH, Kubota,
New Holland and AGCO to put the same
process in place.
The documents are available for
purchase online at agridocshq.com.
While several dealers have adopted the
documents, Schmeiser said WEDA has
no authority to impose agreements. If
a dealer does not use the documents
provided by WEDA, producers should
steer them towards the site.
“These documents are available for
dealers to use. And by all means, if
an equipment dealer in Canada does
not have these documents in place,
our position is that they are exposing
themselves to unnecessary risk or
liability,” Schmeiser said. “We want our
producers to know that we have taken
the proper steps to protect their data and
information.”
Last year, overseen by the American
Farm Bureau Federation, a number of
U.S. agricultural organizations joined
ag tech providers in drawing up privacy
and security principles for farm data use.
Their aim was to reassure farmers that
the data they share with their service
providers would not be misused.
The principles address questions of
ownership, collection, access and
control, transparency, portability, and
use and sale limitations, among others.
As of Jan. 23, 2015, 35 individual
companies and organizations, including
AGCO, DuPont Pioneer, John Deere
and Syngenta, agreed to the outlined
principles. Monsanto purchased data
science company Climate Corporation
in October 2013 for $930 million as part
of the agrochemical and biotechnology
