"Only companies that complete the ADT certification process are allowed to call themselves 'Ag Data Transparent,' which is evidenced by the ADT seal. Farmers should look for the ADT seal before signing up with an online data platform."
Combyne is AgData Transparent (ADT) Certified
Combyne is one of a few dozen AgTech companies in the world that are Agricultural Data Transparent (ADT) certified.
Transparency, trust, control, neutrality, and efficiency are our core product values here at Combyne. When it comes to protecting you, our user, your data, and the agricultural community at large, we want to ensure our core values are properly translated from who we say we want to be, to who we are, and the software we build.
Our Data Policy
What is AgData Transparency?
ADT is an independent organization that audits companies, evaluating their agdata practices and policies. After a company is evaluated, and complies with the Core Principles, they receive a certification to identify that they are Agdata Transparent.
Companies who receive their ADT Certification are reviewed annually, and must comply with the revised ADT criteria to receive recertification.
Creating the Core Principles for AgData Practices
In 2014, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) observed that many of its farmer-members were concerned about the variety of new ag data products that were arriving on the market. What would happen to their data once provided to these platforms? Would the tech providers use this data for their own purposes? Could the farmer ever get this data back? Should they trust these providers that were developing new cloud-based products, as well as new start ups?
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) conducted a series of meetings with representatives from agricultural organizations, such as the American Soybean Associations, National Corn Growers, National Associations of Wheat Growers, National Farmers Union, National Sorghum Producers to gather insights about the concerns around data protection, policies and practices. Agricultural tech providers from big equipment manufacturers, large seed and chemical companies and small ag tech start-ups participated in a series of meetings. The AFBF conducted thorough research to develop guidelines ag tech providers should follow when collecting, using, storing and transferring farmers’ ag data, now best known as the Core Principles of Ag Data Transparency.
Who is protecting your data?
Many companies that collect ag data have not yet agreed to follow the ADT’s Core Principles. Companies rely on the user to navigate their website, searching for their data policies, vet their legal jargon, to figure out how they’re using - and sometimes abusing - their data. Companies that are ADT certified will often display their certification on their website, wearing it like a badge of honour - considering the process isn’t an easy one to pass!
View ADT Certified Companies
We put our data policy into practice.
Not only is Combyne Ag Data Transparent certified, we ensure data transparency is at the forefront of every decision we make. Every year, we re-submit to ADT to be re-evaluated to receive our ADT certification. Any changes we make our Data Policy or Practices we report to ADT for evaluation and communicate to our users.
Becoming AgData Transparent certified verified we were on the right track, but our journey didn’t stop there. After receiving our certification we conducted an internal audit, evaluating our product, processes and practices to identify how we could do even better when it comes to making our data practices more accessible to our users and future Combyne users.
Interested in learning more about how Combyne collects and uses your data?
Our Data Practices Learn more about Combyne