The Janzen Ag Tech Blog contains articles about the intersection of agriculture, technology, and law. All articles are original content, authored by attorney Todd Janzen. Subscribe by email at the bottom of this page to receive new posts after they are published.
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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreCase IH unvieled its first autonomous tractor concept. What are the legal issues that will follow these driverless vehicles into the field?
Read MoreIs your ag technology company struggling to define how it treats ag data? Define your guiding principles first.
Read MoreWhen 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.
Read MoreFarming is different than other industries. This post explains why.
Read MoreAlthough 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.
Read MoreI 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?
Read MoreI 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.
Read MoreAmerican 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).
Read MoreAs 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.
Read MoreJanzen Ag Law recently converted from Windows laptops to Apple MacBooks. I could write a book about the changes from Microsoft’s Windows to Apple’s OS, but one thing is the same—both Microsoft and Apple are now insistent on forcing users to use their cloud platforms. Windows embeds its cloud, “OneDrive” into everything. Apple’s mandatory sentencing to iCloud is not much better. Avoiding these cloud servers takes time and effort. As a result, I cannot tell you how many times I have saved a document into a cloud drive when that was not my intent.
Read MoreCountless articles have been written about the potential value of ag data. But the immediate question for farmers trying to decide whether to invest in an ag data product is what is the return on investment (ROI) for this year? Listening to grower panels at precision ag events has convinced me that most farmers still don’t know what the ROI is for most ag data products on the market.
Read MoreThere are many ways to describe the data that is streaming off the farm today. This post explores five currently accepted categories of ag data and how they are being used.
Read MoreWhile attending Commodity Classic, I did an interview with Matt Grassi at PrecisionAg.com about the Ag Data Transparency Evaluator. Here is an excerpt and link to the full interview.
Read MoreTesla is revolutionizing the automotive industry. My new office is near a Tesla store so I frequently see the Tesla Model S driving by. For those not acquainted with Tesla, the company builds all-electric cars that have a range of over 250 miles per charge. No complicated hybrid drive. No gas required, ever. I keep wondering when Tesla will step into other markets and more importantly, will agriculture be one of them? This post explores whether the “all-electric” philosophy would work on the farm.
Read MoreThe problems farmers have with embracing farm data programs are well documented, but I think it comes down to three things: trust, time, and complexity. Trust--many farmers don't know what happens to their data after they send it to an ag technology provider (ATP). Time--farmers are already busy. Who has time to read detailed privacy policies and data license agreements. Complexity--farm data contracts are different than normal farm contracts.
Read MoreFederal legislation often arrives in areas where state laws are so inconsistent that citizens or industries demand uniformity. We have seen this over and over in the history of the United States. For example, we are seeing inconsistent GMO labeling laws prompt a push for a national GMO labeling standard (Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act). GMO proponents would not normally want mandatory labeling, but a patchwork quilt state-regulatory system is much worse. Will the same issues arise with agricultural data?
Read MoreWho owns the air above your farm? Although UAVs have caused many people to ask this question recently, the United States Supreme Court addressed this issue way back in 1946. This post tells the story of chicken farmer that sued the US government because military aircraft were "trespassing" on the airspace above his property.
Read MoreThe concept of ag data “ownership” is not recognized by United States law. Farmers like to say “I own my ag data.” Ag technology companies like to say “the farmer owns their data.” And the industry representatives like to say “the farmer should own their data.” But the reality is that “ownership” is a legal principle that must be recognized by courts or a law, and that has not happened yet in the United States.
Read MoreAll articles on the Janzen Ag Tech Blog are Copyrighted as of the date published by Janzen Agricultural Law LLC. Reprint only with permission.
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