Now a few years into the movement of ag data from the farmstead into the cloud, we are seeing two different models of cloud-based platforms emerge. There are cloud-based storage platforms with aggregated data sharing; and there are cloud-based platforms without aggregated data sharing. It is important for all farmers to know the difference.

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.

Case IH unveiled its first autonomous tractor concept at the Farm Progress Show. The machine looks great and Case IH is serious about testing the waters based upon their online survey, but from a lawyer's standpoint the big questions here are legal.

At the center of the DOJ’s complaint are two high-speed planting technologies: Precision Planting’s “SpeedTube” and John Deere’s “ExactEmerge.” Both technologies move seed from planter hoppers into the furrow in a fast, controlled manner.

A number of ag tech companies have developed ag data use policies. This is a good trend and will benefit farmers. "Data Use Policies" (some companies have other names for these) attempt to answer farmers’ questions about "what happens to my data" in one single document.

The latest issue of SciTech Lawyer is dedicated to the Internet of Things and legal issues that will follow this advancing technology. The "Internet of Things" or "IoT" is the term used to describe the interconnectedness of new devices that can "talk" to each other and other devices.