Janzen: What You Need to Know About Congress’ Agricultural Data Act of 2018
Via Janzen Ag Law Blog:
Senators Amy Klobuchar and John Thune have introduced Senate Bill 2487, the “Agricultural Data Act of 2018,” writes Ag Law Attorney Todd Janzen in a recent blog post.
According to Janzen, the bill seeks to streamline ag data collection within USDA to make it more centralized and easily accessible to land grant universities and other organizations for research. Here’s a closer look.
The bill states that its purpose is “to increase the knowledge of how covered conservation practices or suites of covered conservation practices impact farm and ranch profitability (such as crop yields, soil health, and other risk-reducing factors) by using an appropriate collection, review, and analysis of data.” In other words, the bill intends to help analyze conservation practices to determine how they impact farm profitability and soil health.
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What data will be collected?
The bill focuses on data related to “covered conservation practices,” which are practices designed to protect soil health, farm and ranch productivity, or both, while maintaining or enhancing crop yields. The bill also mentions data related to risk avoidance, which I assume means crop insurance.
Head on over to Janzen’s Ag Law Blog to read the full breakdown.