Farm Bureau and other leading Iowa farm organizations, along with agribusiness, state government and Iowa State University, last week announced comprehensive steps designed to help farmers harness the power of the growing amount of agriculture data to increase production and efficiency while protecting it from being misused.
The recommendations, developed by the Hale Group at the direction of the Iowa AgState organization, call for continuous education of farmers, ag retailers and policy makers about the issues surrounding the collection and use of what is often called “big data.” That education will help expedite informed data, AgState leaders said.
The recommendations also call for:
• The creation of an independent, farmer-controlled warehouse for farm level and aggregated agronomic data that can be used to better serve farmers.
• Continuous assessment of products, services and business models in the market and the promotion of uniform, agreed-upon...