Getting data from farmers is essential for evaluating the impact of climate-smart practices on greenhouse gas emissions. But getting farmers to provide that data, and keeping it private, emerged as a concern as the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities projects started being implemented.
USDA subsequently rolled back some data requirements in response to concerns from project leaders that farmers were reluctant to sign up and hand over information on their operations.
Robert Bonnie, undersecretary for farm production and conservation at USDA, said the new requirements seek to aggregate data at a project scale rather than an individual producer one.
“We want to make sure that we respect folks' proprietary information, even while we access some of that data,” Bonnie said.
But some concerns about data privacy linger in some quarters.
Roger McEowen, a professor of agricultural law and taxation at Washburn University in Kansas, has been asked to examine PCSC contracts on behalf of farmers. He said that, from what he has seen, the projects involve giving up some control of a farming operation through the types of certification, data collection and other requirements.
Roger McEowen“I would hesitate to sign one myself,” McEowen said. “But they’re dangling money out there. That’s tempting to farmers, particularly when your input costs are up and crop prices are down.”
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This is a sentiment McEowen said he’s heard from producers, tax practitioners and lawyers.
McEowen also expressed concern about a clause in one project’s contract that said it would pay for farmers' practices believed to contribute to emissions reductions, although the compensation is not based on real or perceived sequestration. In his opinion, he said this suggests the program does not truly care about cutting emissions, and is a misuse of taxpayer dollars. He declined to name the project, but said it was the only one he had reviewed that included the language.
Matt Durler, managing director of a PCSC project led by the National Sorghum Producers, told Agri-Pulse he’s seen a “wide cross-section of a willingness to share data” among producers.
“Some people are very conservative in that,” he said. “Some people it’s not such a big deal to.”
He stressed, however, that the producers enrolled in NSP’s project retain ownership of their data, which is shared only to monitor compliance with the grant. Any data that is shared elsewhere is aggregated so it won’t reveal information on individuals.
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