YAGRO are dedicated to upholding the integrity of farm data. As the UK’s trusted farm data experts, it is essential for us to ensure the privacy and security of our customers' data, and this is a responsibility we take seriously.
Technology is now everywhere on farm and there is inevitably more to come. We are great optimists in the value of technology, especially data, to progress farming performance, sustainability, and productivity in the UK. The use of data gathered on farm has become a critical topic. Not only in how it is managed, but also in terms of how it is owned, and the permissions for sharing and use by interested parties.
There is a necessary movement towards better data governance at an industry level in the UK, with the formation of Farm Data Principles - initiated by our Managing Director, Gareth Davies, who sits on that Council, while YAGRO as a company are incubating the project until independence. We challenged ourselves to help define those standards and abide by them. It is our mutual aim to ensure a commonly recognised standard of care, security, and ownership.
This initiatives brings the UK up to international standards, where the EU has its Code of Conduct on Agricultural Data Sharing, and the US has the Ag Data Transparent Association. These are voluntary codes and principles which have greatly improved trust, access, and protection of farmers’ data rights.
At YAGRO we constantly challenge ourselves and push ourselves to lead data innovation in UK agriculture. That includes being at the forefront of data rights and policy.
Alongside the Data Protection Act (formerly General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR), which focuses on the rights of personal data, our data terms of service to farmers goes well beyond, to give our customers rounded and transparent rights, protection, and security. The highlights of these are:
