There is the potential to collect more on-farm agronomic data than ever before, and farmers need the hardware and software systems to share information. The most scalable solution is to enable hardware and software systems to communicate automatically through secure cloud services or tools, so that the data can be put to work in real time. However, many farmers share legitimate concerns about what will happen to their operation’s data and questions about who controls that data and how it will be used.
Case IH – along with several other organizations – is supporting the recent launch of the Open Ag Data Alliance (OADA). Its mission is to ensure farmers have full data access, along with security and privacy. OADA is led by Aaron Ault, a senior research engineer for the Open Ag Technology Group with Purdue University and a farmer himself.
“As a farmer, I need the freedom to select the right hardware, software and services for my operation,” said Ault. “The open standards of OADA will give farmers the flexibility and control they need to choose data science products and services that will work on their farms to help manage their data and make more data-driven decisions, enabling the next wave of agricultural production.”
OADA believes farmers require an open solution that works with existing standards, adheres to clear privacy and security policies, and doesn’t require farmers to pay to access their own data.
“Precision technologies are revolutionizing agriculture, and producers are using them more and more to reduce input costs, improve yields and increase efficiencies,” said Dave Larson, vice president agricultural equipment portfolio strategy for Case IH’s parent company. “Our Case IH brand offers advanced precision technologies that will help farmers use their data to farm better and smarter. OADA expressly acknowledges and protects the producer ownership of data, while also providing an open industry standard for secure data sharing, allowing producers to achieve the full value of both their data and our technologies so they can better manage their farming operation.”
To learn more about OADA and its principles, visit the OADA website.
