Five years ago, the Ag Data Transparent (ADT) organization was receiving inquiries from companies who supported transparency efforts but didn’t know where to start in developing their agreements with farmers. To address this need, ADT developed a “Model” Ag Data Use Agreement for companies collecting agricultural data from farmers. The model agreement was a huge success, being downloaded and implemented by many companies inside and outside of the agricultural industry. Any contract that addresses new technologies must evolve with those technologies, and so, in 2025, ADT formed a committee to update the model agreement to reflect the evolving data landscape. This article discusses the changes to the model agreement and why such changes were made.

The original model agreement was unique in that it defined the categories of data that the company intended to collect (Agronomic Data, Land Data, Farm Management Data, Machine Data, Weather Data, and Livestock Data), instead of relying on overly general and vague descriptions that were the norm at the time. The updated agreement maintains the original categories but adds Sustainability Data. Sustainability Data includes information about conservation activities, climate conditions, emissions, efficiency, carbon, and other sustainability metrics. The 2025 Agreement also adds “location” under the Machine Data category as a type of information that may be collected by the company.

The updated model agreement further introduces two new categories of information collected and generated in addition to farmers’ “Ag Data.” First, the model agreement introduces “Usage Data,” which is information about how and when the company’s service is being used, including device type, operating system, browser, time of day, frequency of use, and time spent using the service. The updated model agreement clarifies that Usage Data is not considered Ag Data.

The second new type of information addressed is “Derived Data.” Derived Data is owned by the company and is defined as “data that has been created, generated, or inferred from original Ag Data sources, but does not include the original Ag Data itself.” For example, a company can create Derived Data by combining ag data from multiple farmers and using predictive algorithms to fill in data gaps and generate insights into farming conditions. The increase in use of AI tools makes defining and addressing Derived Data a necessity.

Similarly, the updated model agreement further clarifies the license granted to companies using farmers’ Ag Data. The agreement now includes a limited license grant to the company to use Ag Data to create Derived Data, combine the user’s Ag Data with data from other users to create Aggregated Data, and use the Ag Data as training data for artificial intelligence (AI) models, provided the results from such models do not disclose the user’s Ag Data outside of the company. The updated agreement also places restrictions on the company’s use of Ag Data, specifically writing that the company is not allowed to sublicense the user’s Ag Data without the user’s consent.

Ownership of Ag Data was a key feature of the original model agreement, and that principle remains imbedded in the updated version. The updated agreement further clarifies that, when it comes to ownership, the default position is that companies own Usage Data and Derived Data, but this does not negate the farmers’ ownership of Ag Data.

The updated agreement also preserves the original provision allowing users to delete their Ag Data at any time with an active account or within 30 days after termination. The updated agreement adds that data must be stored in the USA and Canada (or explain where). This recognizes the potential unknowns to data storage outside the USA and Canada.

In summary, the coming wave of new platforms and products that focus on regenerative agriculture and use of artificial intelligence tools require that companies update their data collection policies. The updated model data agreement reflects these evolutions and new uses, a continued emphasis on transparency.

To download a copy of the updated Model Ag Data Use Agreement, visit: www.agdatatransparent.com/model-agreement

Special thanks to Danielle Graff, Trudi Baker, and Darcy Herauf for their collaboration on the model agreement updates.