Data Use Policy

Data Use Policy for

The Soil Inventory Project, Inc.

Last Updated: September 17th, 2025

This Data Use Policy (“Data Policy”) establishes the terms by which agricultural data is collected, stored, used, and shared by The Soil Inventory Project, Inc. (“TSIP”). This Data Policy applies to any person, company or organization (“you”) that provides Ag Data (defined below) to TSIP, unless you have a separate agreement with TSIP that supersedes this Data Policy.

Mission. TSIP’s mission is to establish confidence in agricultural impact claims by providing foundational data infrastructure that is accessible to all and free from commercial conflict.
Purpose of the Data Policy. TSIP is building a decentralized, national soil inventory (the “Inventory”), a database of aggregated Ag Data held by TSIP for the public benefit, defined in more detail below. The Inventory will help farmers, companies, researchers, and soil scientists to learn more about soil health, determine regional baselines, and link management practices to agricultural outcomes. This Data Policy is designed to inform farmers, landowners, organizations, and companies that share Ag Data with TSIP how such information in the Inventory will be used by TSIP and others.
The Types of Data TSIP Collects. TSIP collects various types of agricultural data together with soil samples to compile in the Inventory, including the following (collectively referred to as “Ag Data” in this Data Policy):
1. Land Data. Soil sample location and date, lab-based analyses (i.e., carbon, pH, texture, etc.), topographic elevation, soil type, tillage practices, conservation activities, and other soil profile information.
2. Agronomic Data. Crop and field-related information, such as planting date, population, seed type, yield, herbicide, insecticide, and fungicide application, fertilization, harvest loss, irrigation, and tillage.
3. Machine Data. Telematics information from machines and equipment in farming practices, including machine health, fuel consumption, load, use, and other machine performance data.
4. Weather Data. Precipitation, wind speed and direction, temperature, and other weather information related to land where the soil samples originated.
5. Aerial Imagery. Imagery from satellites, airplanes, and unmanned aerial vehicles of the applicable land.
6. Historical Production Data. Historical production data includes the available categories of data identified above for years prior to you submitting soil samples to TSIP.
TSIP also collects “Personal Information” from individuals and organizations that submit Ag Data. Personal Information may include name, organization name, address, and contact information. Personal Information is governed by TSIP’s Privacy Policy.
How TSIP Collects Ag Data. Ag Data is collected by TSIP using different methods: (1) directly from a farmer who is participating in a TSIP program by reporting to TSIP; (2) from results provided by a TSIP field kit; (3) from a TSIP partnering person, company, or organization who is engaged by TSIP to assist with data collection; and (4) from publicly available data. TSIP aggregates Ag Data from many sources to create and expand the Inventory, which was referred to as Aggregated Data by TSIP’s earlier versions of this Data Policy.
How TSIP Uses Ag Data.
1. License Grant for Internal Use. You grant TSIP a limited license to: (1) clean your Ag Data by removing perceived errors and omissions; (2) store your Ag Data on servers owned, leased, or under the control of TSIP; (3) maintain your Ag Data in the TSIP Inventory; (4) share your Ag Data with others as authorized by you, subject to Personal/Organizational Anonymization and your selected level of Spatial Anonymization; (5) use your Ag Data to initialize, calibrate, train, and validate certain machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence models (AI) owned by or licensed to TSIP, or pursuant to an agreement with a PRO in the service of TSIP’s mission; (6) share your Ag Data with PROs under the limitations provided below; and (7) make accessible on the TSIP Website according the restrictions you select below. TSIP will never sell your Ag Data.
2. . Primary Research Organizations (PROs): PROs are a limited set of trusted research partners (academic and nonprofit organizations) that have access to the non-anonymized Inventory for research purposes, subject to additional data security requirements (explained below). Each PRO will have full access to the Inventory but must agree that: (i) any published analysis shall not include your Personal Information (ii) published analysis shall not include geolocation data points (latitude; longitude) without your explicit consent; and (iii) no sublicense to any Ag Data provided by TSIP will be granted to any party outside this Data Policy (these three conditions are the “PRO Requirements”). The Covey Lab at Skidmore College and the Basso Lab at Michigan State University are PROs at the time this Data Policy was published. Additional organizations may become a TSIP-approved PRO if the organization agrees to be bound by the PRO Requirements. You consent to sharing your Ag Data with any PRO.
3. Public Interface. TSIP has created a public website that allows visitors to query the Inventory and download Ag Data ("Interface"). Any researcher or individual who seeks access to the Inventory through the Interface must agree to data use restrictions that align with TSIP's mission. The level of anonymization of your Ag Data available to visitors will be limited according to your anonymization settings in the Interface. The current selections are listed below, from least restrictive to most restrictive:
  
  • Personal/Organizational Anonymization: You consent to sharing your Ag Data with the public, including precise geolocation. You do not consent to sharing the name of your organization, field name or IDs, and site name/IDs, or other identifying information.
  
  • Spatial Anonymization: You consent to sharing your Ag Data after spatial anonymization including removal of precise geolocation, in addition to removal of organization name, field name or ID, and site name or ID. You consent to your Ag Data being made available along with geolocation at the following level of spatial anonymization:
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 • County   
 • State   
 • Region (USDA-ARS definition)   
  
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4. Use of Third Parties to Process Data. TSIP may engage third parties to perform data processing on your Ag Data. Any third-party data processor that has access to your Ag Data must abide by this Data Policy at all times and will not be granted a sublicense to use your Ag Data.
5. Technical Assistance Providers. TSIP may engage persons, companies, and other entities to provide technical assistance to producers and land managers as needed (“Technical Assistants”). Technical Assistants will consult and assist producers with implementation of regenerative agriculture, data collection, and soil sampling. You consent to sharing Personal Information and Ag Data with these authorized Technical Assistants for a limited term of engagement, who must agree to follow this Data Use Policy.
6. Government Agencies. TSIP does not share Ag Data with government agencies, unless required to by law or in response to a court order. A government official may access Ag Data through the Interface under the same terms as any other authorized user.
Intellectual Property. By sharing your Ag Data with TSIP, you relinquish any right, title or interest to any AI or ML models, inventions, trade secrets, copyrights, or other protectable intellectual property (collectively, “IP”) generated, derived, or discovered by TSIP. TSIP does not seek to commercialize IP, however, to the extent any IP is developed from the Inventory by TSIP, whether alone or in conjunction with PROs, TSIP has the right to license or share that IP (but not your Ag Data) for uses that further TSIP’S mission.
Portability. TSIP shall allow you to obtain a copy of your Ag Data by email, download, or other digital method after such information is collected. TSIP may require you to create a TSIP account prior to making Ag Data available for download through the Interface.
Modifications. TSIP may revise this Data Policy from time to time. TSIP will notify you by email if available and by posting the updated Data Policy on the TSIP website (tsip.org). The updated Data Policy will be effective as of the date posted to the TSIP website. The updated Data Policy shall not remove any protections for your Ag Data without your consent.
Security/Notice. TSIP takes reasonable and customary security measures to protect the privacy and security of your Ag Data. In the event of a data breach, natural disaster, or other unforeseen event that causes your Ag Data or your Personal Information to be compromised, TSIP will notify you.
Deletion. To delete your data, delete your TSIP account through the Interface. If you do not have an account, email contact@tsip.org and we will delete your data manually. When you delete your account, all of your Ag Data will be removed from the Interface and your Personal Information will be removed from the Inventory. Your Ag Data will remain within the Inventory available to TSIP and PROs. TSIP may consider your request to remove your Ag Data completely from the Inventory, but such removal remains at TSIP’s discretion.
Storage and Retention. TSIP shall store your Ag Data as long as there is a continuing use for such information that is consistent with TSIP’s mission. This dataset will never be sold to a for-profit entity. TSIP holds your Ag Data in highly secure, enterprise-grade cloud data stores with end-to-end chain of custody protocols, ensuring maximum security through controlled access systems and avoiding local data storage whenever possible.
Limits on TSIP’s Liability. TSIP is not liable for any damages that result from the disclosure of your Ag Data to any person, company or organization, provided such disclosures are made according to this Data Policy. TSIP is not responsible for a loss or unauthorized disclosure of your Ag Data due to (i) an Act of God; (ii) other catastrophic event; (iii) a data breach, unless caused by TSIP’s gross negligence; or (iv) someone other than you using your account.
Inquiries. Questions about this Data Policy should be directed to contact@tsip.org