Rethinking farm data protection: A farmer-centric approach

Lead Applicant: Rozita Dara

Research Priority: Innovative Products & Product Improvement

Program Type: Tier 1

Funding Cycle: 2023/2024

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: The emergence and use of digital technologies in farming are expected to enable more precise and data-driven farm practices. Despite all the benefits this modern digital ecosystem offers, a large number of privacy and security issues regarding farm data protection have come to light. Past research and surveys have shown that farmers are indeed concerned about their privacy and their farm data protection. The research proposed here intends to shed light on the Ontario/Canada farm data protection legal practices and knowledge gaps that have not yet been explored in other existing work. A farmer-centric framework will be developed to investigate and provide recommendations on 1) Local/global data protection laws and practices that can be applied to Ontario/Canada farmers’ personal data and farm data; 2) The legal landscape of agriculture technology provider (APT) data contracts/agreements; 3) Ontario farmers’ data security and cyber-safe practices; and 4) Ontario farmers’ perceptions and attitude related to those issues.