Who Controls Your Farm Data? NALC Webinar Examines Emerging State Laws
PHILLIP POWELL
FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS
As agricultural technology continues to generate increasing amounts of data, questions surround who owns that information, who can use it and who may benefit financially from it are increasingly important. A webinar hosted by the National Agricultural Law Center will help to answer some of those questions.
The webinar, titled “Agricultural Data Rights: A New State Law Landscape,” will examine how new state laws are addressing agricultural data ownership and monetization rights among various participants in the agricultural technology creation and usage chain.
The one-hour, online event will begin at 11 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, Oct. 21. It is free and open to the public.
Registration is available online through the National Agricultural Law Center at https://snip.ly/2pd5qx.
Presenters will include D. Reed Freeman, chair of the Privacy Practice Group at ArentFox Schiff, and Karen Ellis Carr, chair of the firm’s Agriculture & AgTech Industry Group.
Freeman and Carr will discuss the evolving state law landscape and how legal rights related to agricultural data are being allocated among producers, landowners, lessees, original equipment manufacturers, seed companies, aggregators and technology providers.
“Data has become an increasingly valuable component of modern agriculture, with information generated through equipment, precision agriculture technologies and other digital tools playing an important role in agricultural operations,” said NALC Director Harrison Pittman. “As states develop new approaches to agricultural data rights, understanding how those laws affect different participants will be increasingly important. We are thankful to have Reed and Karen explaining the issue.”
Freeman brings experience advising clients on privacy, data security, regulatory compliance and data-related disputes. Before entering private practice, he served as a staff attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection and as a chief privacy officer and vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs for an online advertising company.
Carr counsels, advocates and litigates on behalf of agriculture and food companies and industry groups, with a focus on agricultural technology, biotechnology, pesticides, environmental law and other regulated technologies. She advises clients on data use and compensation disputes, regulatory matters and litigation involving agricultural technology. ∆
PHILLIP POWELL
NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL LAW CENTER