producers/nelson-andrew-proprietary-data-reluctance

Quote / Position

“I’ve read the terms and conditions. But giving some of that information to the person that I’m having to buy a three-quarter of a million-dollar machine from just doesn’t sit quite right.”

Context

Nelson takes advantage of precision-ag capabilities (feeding spraying data to Bayer Climate FieldView for chemical recommendations; allowing John Deere Operations Center to collect equipment data) but withholds some field-level data because of contract concerns. The Civil Eats article uses his quote to anchor the practitioner-reality critique of proprietary data capture.

Source

Civil Eats (Elsa Wenzel). A Hidden Crop for Corporate Tech: Farm Data. March 23, 2026. https://civileats.com/2026/03/23/a-hidden-crop-for-corporate-tech-farm-data/

Cover photo: Jed Owen/Unsplash.