America's First Ag Data Case

America's First Ag Data Case

A number of poultry growers have filed suit against Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms, and other poultry integrators alleging that growers’ production data was shared among integrators to depress the amounts paid to growers.  This is the first case where farmers’ ag data is at the center of the lawsuit.

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Change is Coming to the Dairy. And not from Regulators.

Change is Coming to the Dairy. And not from Regulators.

Farmers might herald Trump’s executive order pledging to cut two regulations for every one new one, but “regulations” are only one of the burdens placed on farmers. And that leads me to my prediction.

For the next ten years, consumers are going to drive more on-farm changes than regulators. 

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Ag Data Predictions for 2017

Ag Data Predictions for 2017

The clouds that house America’s agricultural data are going to see a lot shifting in 2017.  Here are my predictions for 2017.

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The Year in Reverse: 2016

The Year in Reverse: 2016

Here's a look back at the five biggest ag law and technology stories from 2016.

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John Deere's Electric Tractor Concept: A Bigger Idea than Just Another Tractor

John Deere's Electric Tractor Concept: A Bigger Idea than Just Another Tractor

Earlier this year, I asked when is Tesla’s electricity going to come to farm?  This week John Deere caught my attention this week when it announced an all-electric tractor concept in France. This post takes a closer look. 

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Reflections on Year One

Reflections on Year One

Janzen Ag Law is celebrating our first year. What better way to celebrate than a blog post on the highs and lows of what it means to start a business today.

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Thoughts from the (Ag Data) Road

Thoughts from the (Ag Data) Road

The past two weeks I attended two very different ag data conferences.  The first was the Big Data Dairy Management conference held by the American Dairy Science Association. The second was AgGateway's annual conference. The audiences were different, but many of the issues were the same.  Here are few of my reflections.

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Aggregated vs. Non-Aggregated Data. An Important Distinction.

Aggregated vs. Non-Aggregated Data. An Important Distinction.

Farmer's should understand the difference between ag data platforms that aggregate data and those that don't.

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Making a Federal Case Out of Ag Data

Making a Federal Case Out of Ag Data

A closer look at the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016.

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An In Depth Look at the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy

An In Depth Look at the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued its Federal Automated Vehicles Policy.  Although this policy applies solely to on-road vehicles, CNH’s recent introduction of a concept autonomous tractor suggests that NHTSA’s policy may have agricultural implications too.  This post takes a deeper look at NHTSA’s Automated Vehicles Policy.

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Speed Kings: DOJ Suit Puts the Brakes on High Speed Planting Merger

Speed Kings: DOJ Suit Puts the Brakes on High Speed Planting Merger

The Department of Justice recently filed suit to prohibit John Deere's acquisition of high speed planting technology from Precision Planting.  This article takes a closer look at the suit.

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Case IH Autonomous Tractor: What are the Legal Hurdles?

Case IH Autonomous Tractor: What are the Legal Hurdles?

Case IH unvieled its first autonomous tractor concept.  What are the legal issues that will follow these driverless vehicles into the field?

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Data Use Policies: Start by Defining Your Ag Data Guiding Principles

Data Use Policies: Start by Defining Your Ag Data Guiding Principles

Is your ag technology company struggling to define how it treats ag data?  Define your guiding principles first.

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The Internet of Farm Things (IoFT)

The Internet of Farm Things (IoFT)

When the Internet of Things arrives on the farm, the change will be remarkable. This post explores some issues that may arise with the coming wave of interconnected devices.

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Five Things Every Silicon Valley Ag Startup Should Know About Midwestern Farmers

Five Things Every Silicon Valley Ag Startup Should Know About Midwestern Farmers

Farming is different than other industries.  This post explains why.

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Updated: Are We Ready for Autonomous Tractors?

Updated: Are We Ready for Autonomous Tractors?

Although Google’s autonomous car appears to be getting most of the press, the auto-guidance system on tractors, combines, sprayers and other farm equipment has been around for years. 

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Will “Big Data” Help the Small Farm, Large Farm, or Both?

Will “Big Data” Help the Small Farm, Large Farm, or Both?

I have spoken at a number of events this past six months about the legal issues arising from the transfer of ag data from the farm into cloud-based platforms managed by ag technology providers (ATPs). Moving to the cloud is not for everyone, but what has surprised me is that the complaints I hear are from both “small” and “larger” farms.  This post explores those complaints and asks, who is big data really for, the small farm or large farm?

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Big Data Considerations for Rural Property Professionals

Big Data Considerations for Rural Property Professionals

I recently contributed to an article about big data considerations for rural property appraisers and other professionals in Journal for the The American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.  Here is an excerpt and link to the full article.

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Ag Data Survey: Providers Must Do More to Explain How Data is Used

Ag Data Survey: Providers Must Do More to Explain How Data is Used

American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) conducted a survey of farmers to determine whether their attitudes about ag data had changed since the prior survey a couple years ago.  The results were very interesting. Most farmers still do not have a solid understanding on what happens to their data when they move it from on-farm storage to cloud-based storage with an ag tech provider (ATP).

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Addressing Ag Data in Custom Farming Contracts

Addressing Ag Data in Custom Farming Contracts

As custom harvesters make their way across the United States and Canada this summer, I keep wondering what happens to all that yield data these machines are collecting.  I am sure much of the data is forwarded to the landowners and farmers so that they can make decisions for next year.  I hope so.  But do custom harvesters address this in their agreements?  Here are some suggestions for how they should.

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