#bigdata

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Welcome to the Maryland Risk Management Education Blog, provided by the University of Maryland Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. This blog provides readers with information on risk management issues important to Maryland agriculture, upcoming events, and new materials that may interest readers.

Farmers Must Actively Protect Data to Secure Trade Secret Protections

Admin

Nov 16, 2016
3 min

Farmers Must Actively Protect Data to Secure Trade Secret Protections

By Ashley Ellixson In our recent publication on Ownership and Protections of Farm Data, we suggested that trade secret would be the best candidate among intellectual property laws to protect farm data. In follow-up discussions, we realized we needed to revisit a key point of our publication which may have been ignored. That point is: to be protected by trade secret, a farmer must actively protect their farm’s data. Although we do not know for certain what steps the courts wil

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Protecting Your Farm Data: Non-Disclosure Agreements

Admin

Jun 7, 2016
2 min

Protecting Your Farm Data: Non-Disclosure Agreements

By Ashley Ellixson Here we are yet again discussing farm data, one of the major hot topics in ag law and technology right now. Why? We are turning to “big data” and ownership again because, well, there are still many unanswered questions. You may recall my post from a while ago on “big data” and its definition. Today I am going to focus on non-disclosure agreements and how this contract can be used to help protect your farm data. Farm data can be one of three kinds: Agrono

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May 20, 2016
3 min

Weekly News Update: May 20th Edition

By Mayhah Suri GMOs Are Safe, But Don’t Always Deliver On Promises, Top Scientists Say A new report from the National Academy of Science once again confirms that GM crops are safe for human consumption. The report tries to answer a long list of questions about GMOs, involving nutrition, effect on the environmental, effects on the farm economy and monopoly control over seeds. The report found that some claims about the benefits of GMOs have been exaggerated. Many scientists wh

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May 13, 2016
4 min

Weekly News Update: May 13th Edition

By Mayhah Suri New Report Alleges Cruelty and Endangerment of Poultry Workers A new report by Oxfam America, an arm of the international anti- poverty and injustice group, alleges that poultry industry workers are “routinely denied breaks to use the bathroom” in order to optimize the speed of production. The industry has responded with both concern and denial. Oxfam says it reached out to all of the companies mentioned in the report, but only heard back from two: Tyson Foods

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Mar 11, 2016
2 min

Weekly News Update: March 11th Edition

By Mayhah Suri Reminder Crop Insurance Sales Closing Date is March 15 Those with spring planted crops or considering Whole Farm Revenue Insurance have just 4 days left to contact their crop insurance agents. Go see your crop insurance agent before that time to make changes to your crop insurance coverage. To get estimates on premium costs for various coverage, check out the crop insurance tool from the University of Illinois’s FarmDoc that includes Maryland’s information at

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Feb 19, 2016
3 min

Weekly News Roundup: February 19th Edition

By Mayhah Suri Reminder CSA Membership Agreement Samples Available Many of you running CSAs will soon be signing members up for the new season. If you need help drafting the agreement or a document to compare your current one against, check out the AREC & ALEI CSA Membership Agreement page http://go.umd.edu/CSAPage. The page has a model agreement guide, sample agreements, and videos to help you develop a membership agreement that works for your farm. Justice Scalia’s Passing

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Webinar Will Examine Economic Issues with “Big Data” in Agriculture

Paul Goeringer

Feb 18, 2016
2 min