The past two weeks I have been on the road, traveling to Chicago and Orlando to speak at two very different ag data conferences. The first was the Big Data Dairy Management conference held by the American Dairy Science Association.  The second was AgGateway's annual conference. The audiences were different, but many of the issues were the same. Here are few of my reflections.

Earlier this year, Congress passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA) with near unanimous support. Since so many of my articles about ag data have focused on the law of trade secrets, I thought it makes sense to see what impact, if any, the DTSA has on ag data issues.

John Kutz has more than a decade of experience using GPS-guided and controlled equipment in his family’s 2,000 acre farming operation in Fort Atkinson, Wis. Kutz, who farms with his wife, Natalie, and parents, Dennis and Sally, also operates a tiling business as well as offers custom farming services that include chicken litter application, planting, spraying and harvesting to area farmers.