Your records are yours. Nothing about your farm is combined with anyone else's unless you turn Data sharing on — and you can turn it off at any time.

The short version

Pooled data is opt-in, never default. Your farm data is excluded from every benchmark and shared dataset unless you turn pooling on in Settings → Privacy → Data sharing.
You can withdraw anytime. Switch it off and your records stop contributing to benchmarks immediately.
Only aggregated, de-identified numbers are pooled. No individual farm's records are ever shown to other farmers, buyers, or anyone else.
Small groups stay hidden. We never publish a benchmark until at least 5 farms in the same state, crop and season have opted in.
Your data is never sold. Not to input suppliers, insurers, landowners, lenders, government agencies, advertisers, or data brokers.
Our parent company gets no access. Business As Usual LLC cannot see your records, pooled or individual.

What "pooling" actually means

When Data sharing is on, your yield records may be combined with other opted-in farms in your state — same crop, same season — to compute an average yield per acre. That average appears on pages like Cost per acre and Profit per acre as a real-world benchmark beside the university budgets and USDA figures.

Only the aggregate shows. No names, farm names, emails, field locations, or individual records ever appear — and nothing is published until at least 5 farms share the same crop and season, so no one can work backwards to a single farm.

Why farmers opt in

Real numbers from real farms like yours. Extension budgets and USDA averages are useful but broad. Pooled benchmarks show what farms in your state — similar soil, similar weather, similar markets — are actually achieving.
Every state keeps its own numbers. We never fill a gap by borrowing another state's data. If your state doesn't have enough opted-in farms yet, the benchmark says so honestly instead of showing someone else's numbers.
Stronger benchmarks for negotiating. When you know the average yield per acre for your crop in your county-level region, cost-per-acre and breakeven conversations with lenders, landlords and buyers start from shared facts.
You still own the decision. A benchmark is a reference point, not a prescription. You decide what to plant, what to change, and what to ignore.

What is never shared, pooled or sold

Individual field records, notes, photos, or task history.
Your identity, farm name, email, or contact details.
Field locations or precise geography.
Anything identifying your farm to buyers, suppliers, insurers, lenders, or agencies.
Any dataset sold, licensed, or handed to a third party — ever.

This is not a policy we plan to revisit. It is written into our Terms of Service §10B and Privacy Policy §3B, and it matches the farm-data license between BAU Farm Intelligence LLC and its parent company.

How to turn it on or off

Sign in and open Settings → Privacy → Data sharing. The switch starts off, shows your current choice and the date you last changed it, and works the same in both directions — on or off, anytime, no questions asked and no effect on your account or price.

Not signed in? The link takes you to sign-in first; your choice is waiting for you there.

Questions

Email privacy@baufarmintelligence.com with any question about pooled data, your records, or your choice — we answer as the custodian of your data, not its owner.