Farmers’ data cannot be used to discriminate against them or drive down commodity prices, IFA president Francie Gorman warned at the Agtech Ireland/Irish Farmers Journal conference.

“The commercial reality is that the pressure to share data will grow and grow,” Gorman said.

“Data must be controlled – it can’t be used against the farmer who provided it.”

“It should be aggregated,” he added, citing fears that farmer data could be used to reward the top 10% of farmers in a milk pool while simultaneously discriminating against the remaining 90% of milk suppliers.

“It needs to work for farmers, not just the industry,” he said.

“The fear is that [farmers’ data] is going to be used against you.”

Gorman called for grant aid of 70-100%, which is available for companies developing artificial intelligence technology, to also be made available to farmers for AI.