Recently I was asked this question: When a farm cooperative (a “co-op”) does work
for a farmer and in the process generates agronomic data, does the co-op own
that data or does the farmer? Many in
the ag industry like to say “the farmer owns the data,” but the co-op’s
generation of farm data presents a more complicated problem. Of
course, if the co-op has a written contract that addresses ownership, this is a
non-issue. (See my previous post for more on this: Co-Ops
and Custom Applicators: Are You Addressing Farm Data?). But who owns the data if there is no written
contract?
On April 15, 2015 I'll be on a panel discussing hot topics in the law at The Racing Attorneys Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. I'll be talking about the legalities of unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) or "drones" in the motor racing industry. I've posted a link to my presentation here if you are unable to attend: 
Farmers will call up their local co-ops this year to help them fertilize and spray their fields. These sprayers-for-hire will be recording what they do, but what happens to that data after that point? Does the co-op have an obligation to provide that data to the farmer? Does the co-op own the data generated on a farmer’s field? These questions need to be answered when farmers engage third parties to perform precision ag activities on their fields.
