3 Keys to Success for Data-Tech in Agriculture
With the rise of data-driven solutions, agriculture is now experiencing a technological revolution that opens new frontiers of growth and efficiency. From precision agriculture to climate-smart farming, data technology transforms how we produce, process, and distribute food. Today, farmers are harvesting data alongside their crops with every turn of the combine. The average farmer in the U.S. generates 500,000 data points daily, which is expected to increase by 800% by 2036, thanks to the widespread implementation of monitors, sensors, and other technology. However, for agriculture data technology to reach its full potential, farmers and the agtech companies that support farmers must operate within a framework of interoperability, privacy, and trust.
Interoperability: The foundation of a data-driven ecosystem
At its core, interoperability refers to the capacity of different technologies to communicate and exchange data seamlessly. In agriculture, interoperability enables farmers to integrate data from multiple sources (weather data, soil sensors, and remote sensing) and apply analytics and insights to help make better decisions. Achieving interoperability requires standardization, which creates consistent formats, vocabularies, and protocols that multiple systems can recognize. For instance, the Open Geospatial Consortium is a global network that develops open standards for spatial data, making it easy to share and integrate diverse geospatial data, which can be useful in precision agriculture. Agtech companies and the government must collaborate to create a system for interoperability among data users.
Privacy: Keeping data safe and confidential
Privacy is a critical aspect of agriculture data technology because of the vast amount of sensitive data farmers generate, such as crop yields, irrigation data, and pest counts. While there are legal requirements to protect data collected from farms, there is no way to ensure complete data safeguarding. Farmers must understand and retain control over how their data will be used, who has access to it, and for what purposes. Farmers must also be informed of how their data can be deleted. Farmers must know that their data can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks, unauthorized access, and misuse. Farmers should work with trusted companies to mitigate the risk and implement appropriate security measures to secure their data.
Trust: Establishing reliability and accountability
Trust is the glue that binds together a strong and sustainable agriculture data technology ecosystem. Trust means having confidence that the data is reliable and has integrity, that the participants in the data ecosystem will obey laws and regulations, and that ethical principles will be followed. Trust is also closely related to transparency. The more transparent the data ecosystem is, the more trust can be established. A third-party verification or audit system, such as the US Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), helps establish trust. An accountability plan between farmers and companies, and individuals with access to data helps keep everyone aware of who is responsible for what. That is a crucial step in generating trust and facilitating the use of data for various purposes.
A Framework for the Future Agricultural Data Technology
The growth of data technology in agriculture has the potential to automate, streamline, and even revolutionize some farming operations. However, realizing this potential will require a concerted effort to establish the right frameworks for interoperability, privacy, and trust. These frameworks must be developed nationally and internationally, with input from all stakeholders, including farmers, agribusinesses, policymakers, and data scientists. By embracing these foundational principles, the agriculture industry can help ensure data technology is implemented responsibly and ethically, creating a sustainable and profitable future.
