Topcon Agriculture and CropZilla, both leaders in the precision agriculture market, announced today a licensing agreement for use of the Topcon Agriculture Platform application programming interface in the CropZilla Web Mobile Analytics platforms.

Data sharing continues to be a source of both opportunity and irritation within the ag industry. While some farmers have pursued the potential advantages of sharing field data, others are reluctant to grant access, control or ownership of that information to third parties.

MZB Technologies announced a data connectivity agreement with The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto Company, providing increased precision agriculture farm data collection and management capabilities for farmers and their trusted advisors.

A new organization, the Agricultural Data Coalition (ADC), has been announced with the goal of building a data repository where farmers can securely store and oversee the information collected by their equipment.

Talking with farmers, there seems to be a distinct divide between those who are embracing the big data revolution and those who are skeptical of it. One farmer colorfully likened the risk of independent companies or government agencies accessing his data without permission as “a sign of the apocalypse.”

With precision farming experience dating back to the mid-1990s, Chris Von Holten marvels at the progress it’s made. But he also laments the “Tower of Babel” approach the technology offers when sharing data.

The role of precision farming dealers will be to service and support technology.