Why Agriculture Necessitates the Services of an Escrow Agent

Agriculture is a competitive industry where escrow agents are involved in the exchange of value between participants while giving end-users control over how their data is used.

FREMONT CA: Data opportunities in automation are frustratingly limited because large segments of the supply chain continue to operate in silos. Simply put, it is not as collaborative as it is expected to be, which is stifling insights and limiting value across the industry. Undoubtedly, trust is one of the most significant barriers to sharing this data. It is a widespread issue in the industry because data is rightfully considered a stakeholder's intellectual property which means that the opportunities for data-driven collaboration are constrained by concerns that data sharing will result in unintended consequences that give competitors an advantage.

Agriculture needs an independent third party to manage data across the supply chain without favoring any party or industry sector connecting every stakeholder from farmer to grocer to make accurate forecasts, manage disruption, and avoid human error throughout the food system.

The benefits of sharing data are well understood by most in the industry, but there is still apprehension among those who think that their data may be used against them. Producers working with seed suppliers, for example, acknowledge that sharing data would result in more accurate recommendations by matching field-specific features to the best products and rates. While they recognize this, they aren't certain that the benefit of field-specific advice balances the risk of value-pricing as a result of the manufacturer's direct access to their data.

Although they choose blanket recommendations on a regional scale, the variations in the field environment will not always be the suitable product or recommendation. This prudence is shared throughout the supply chain. Considering ag retailers, who are concerned that data transparency will harm customer relationships if manufacturers use it to directly target farmers, putting them out of business.

This is why agriculture necessitates the services of an escrow agent. It allows participants to exchange value while also allowing end-users to control how their data is used. For instance, a solution that allows a producer to share data in exchange for a recommendation, but the escrow agent conceals the grower's identity and the exact location of the field. Another solution would allow food companies to interact with the escrow agent to validate compliance with sustainability requirements while preventing the buyer from having direct access to the producer’s data.