S. 5459, Agricultural Data Ownership Protection. Quorum's AI analysis reads it as a net benefit — and names who gains.
S. 5459 · Net good
What it does
This bill establishes that farmers own their agricultural data and prohibits companies from selling that data without the farmer's written consent. It requires data handlers to maintain reasonable security practices and allows the Attorney General to enforce violations with civil penalties of $1,000 per violation, but creates no private right for farmers to sue.
The analysis names agricultural producers (data ownership and control) — and 1 more group — among the beneficiaries.
The trade-off
The bill excludes 'derived data' (insights, reports, predictive models) from the definition of agricultural data, meaning companies can sell AI-generated predictions and analytics derived from farmer data without consent, even if the underlying raw data is protected.
Transparency scores 85%, with a medium warning level and no provisions unrelated to the bill's subject.
Who is behind it
Filed by Pete Ricketts.
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