SOIL AND WATER OUTCOMES FUND DATA PRIVACY POLICY
Last Updated: July 2, 2026
The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund and its managing organization, AgOutcomes, Inc. (collectively, the “Soil and Water Outcomes Fund”, “we”, “us”, “our”) are committed to safeguarding your personal and on-farm information. We understand that you care about how your data is used and shared, and that you expect us to protect your data and take your privacy seriously. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes the data that we collect, what we do with it, who we share it with, how it is stored, and the rights available to you. The Policy covers our treatment of the data you provide to us as part of your enrollment in or prospective enrollment in the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, and the resulting transfer of data to us. It does not cover the practices of companies and/or people that we do not own, control or manage.
By providing data to or participating in the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, and in other interactions you may have with us in any manner, you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Policy. You hereby consent, to the fullest extent permitted in your jurisdiction, that we will collect, use, and share your Personal Data as well as your on-farm Agricultural, Environmental, Financial, and Verification Data (“Data”) in the following ways.
WHAT DATA WE COLLECT
We gather and analyze various types of data from our users or prospective users. We collect Data to establish eligibility of prospective participants, manage our relationship with our users, conduct analysis to provide payment estimates and quantify environmental outcomes, contract with participating farmers, and provide payments per the terms of our contracts.
Depending on the nature of the relationship you have with us, where you are located, and the products and services you utilize, we may collect and otherwise process the following Data and information:
- Personal Data: authentication details, including user ID, password and memorable information used to access our services; Communication records, including records of any communications between you and us via email, our website, telephone, social media and letter; Contact details, including your name, title, home address, company name, company address, phone number, email address, and mobile number; Device and electronic information when you access our services, including IP address, cookies, activity logs related to interactions with our systems, online identifiers, device type, operating system, browser, unique device identifiers, and geo-location data; Identification information used to verify your identity, including social security number and/or Employer Identification Number, date of birth, and proof of address; and Service usage, including when you are operating and accessing our services, the transactions you undertake, information you select, logs of when you access the services and for how long, and any information that you choose to download.
- Agricultural Data: farm names, field names, field acreages, digitized field boundaries or maps, and crop and field information such as planting date, crop rotations, fertilization rates, seeding type and rates, row spacing, yield goal, tillage type, residue management, manure applications, and other field level operational data necessary to compute environmental outcomes.
- Environmental Data: locations of soil and water sampling, results of soil sampling, and results of water sampling.
- Financial Data: bank information and payment information.
- Verification Data: records used to confirm implementation of contracted agricultural practices, including in-field photographs, site visit records and notes, satellite and remote sensing imagery, sensor and telematics data, and reports or attestations from third-party verification partners.
HOW YOUR DATA IS COLLECTED
In addition to any personal information that you provide to us directly, we may also collect and derive Data about you through the following means:
- Cookies and similar technologies: when you visit our website or use any of our mobile applications, we may employ cookies and similar technologies.
- Monitoring of platforms and services: if you use any of our platforms, we may collect data on your usage of these platforms.
- Third party sources: other organizations may provide us with access to data they have collected from you on our behalf; if you are a customer of a third party with whom we have a relationship, we may receive information from them. See ‘Use of Data by Third Parties’ section.
- Outcomes Customers: as needed to facilitate our business operations, services, and products.
HOW WE USE YOUR DATA
Depending on the nature of the relationship we have with you and where you are located, the purposes for which we may use Data are as follows:
- Process enrollment applications for the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund
- Provide standard and/or personalized services to you
- Perform on our contractual obligations to both you and our outcomes customers
- Verify your identity
- Provide information about our services and activities, including marketing information, to you and otherwise advertise our products and services
- Operate, personalize, maintain, and improve our products, services, apps, and website
- Run models to quantify the environmental outcomes resulting from on-farm practices you implement as part of your participation in the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund
- Estimate payments based on these environmental outcomes
- Confirm and document implementation of contracted agricultural practices through site visits, imagery, sensor data, and third-party verification
- Communicate and assist you in relation to any services we provide to you
- Administration of our business
- Compliance with laws that are applicable to us and any other related lawful and legitimate interests
- Defend ourselves and bring claims in relation to legal proceedings
- Safeguard our environments
- Security and protect our systems
Artificial Intelligence Data Usage
Depending on the nature of the relationship we have with you and where you are located, the purposes for which we may use Data with automated systems, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools are as follows:
- Analyze Data and improve internal workflows, processes, and program operations
- Develop and enhance products, services, and program features related to the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund
- Train, develop, and validate internal AI models to provide additional assurance and quality review support to human analysts and program staff.
AI and automated tools may be used to flag, score, or prioritize fields or records for manual review as part of practice verification and quality assurance. Outputs from AI will always be reviewed by qualified personnel prior to any final determination, and AI will never independently and finally determine environmental outcomes, payment amounts, eligibility, or contractual compliance without human review.
We require certain personal information to provide you access to our platforms, services, information, and products. This information allows us to authenticate your identity and protect your account security. If you choose not to provide this necessary personal information, we may be unable to facilitate your services and access.
We are committed to only using your personal data to the extent relevant, necessary, and permitted by applicable local law. We may combine various types of Data we collect as described in this Policy. We may anonymize and aggregate collected Data to use and transfer this anonymized data without notice, consent, or limitation, provided it cannot be used to identify you. We will not use your Data to engage in any conflict of interest or illegal activity.
OWNERSHIP OF DATA AND YOUR RIGHTS
We believe that you are the owner of Data that originates from your farm, device, or equipment. We believe that ownership should give you the right to share, download, and delete your Data. You shall not provide data to the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund unless you are the owner or authorized to do so by the owner. You shall indemnify the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund from any claims that someone else owns the Data uploaded to your account. We will provide a copy of your Data to you upon request or when your contract ends.
Subject to local law, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information.
For example, if you are based in the European Union or certain other countries, you may have the following rights:
- Access: request a copy of your data and information relating to how it is processed
- Rectify: request any inaccuracies in the data we hold about you be corrected
- Erasure: request that we erase your data from our records
- Restrict: request that your data is no longer processed by us
- Object: object to certain ways that we process your data
- Transfer: request that your data be shared with a third party
- Withdraw your consent: where we are relying on your consent to process your data, then you can withdraw your consent at any time
- Lodge a complaint: you may be entitled to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
If you reside in California, you may have certain rights with respect to your personal information, including the right to access the personal information we hold about you and the right to opt out of the sharing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
To exercise any of your rights, please contact us on the details set out in the 'Contact Us' section of this Policy below.
Please note that some of your rights are not absolute, and there may be certain circumstances where we are unable to fulfil a request that you have made. In some circumstances we may also require that you provide additional personal information to confirm your identity.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
You shall not allow any unauthorized person to access your login information, password, account, or Data. You are responsible for any loss of Data or other damage that occurs to the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund because of any unauthorized access to your account. If your account with the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund terminates, you have the responsibility to delete your Data, or the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund will assume you have abandoned all ownership claims. Once abandoned, the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund may delete your Data or anonymize and aggregate your Data according to this Agreement.
DATA RETENTION
Notwithstanding the foregoing, we will retain contract documentation, verification audit-trail records, and outcome data for as long as required to comply with our internal program record-keeping requirements, outcomes customer carbon accounting and audit needs, or other applicable legal requirements, even after your account or contract has terminated.
USE OF DATA BY THIRD PARTIES
We grant some third-parties access to your Data to help us provide certain aspects of our services to you. These may include our third-party monitoring and verification partners that use your Data to run models to quantify environmental outcomes that result from your participation in the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund. These may also include IT, data processing, payment processing, AI, and other technology providers we use to deliver and improve our services. We only engage with providers whose data protection terms are materially consistent with this Policy. We will only engage AI service providers under agreements that explicitly prohibit the use of your Data to train general or public-facing models.
Verified environmental outcomes may be shared with third parties, including outcomes customers and program partners, paired with a unique, anonymous identifier rather than your name or specific farm address. We may also share aggregate or general location information about enrolled fields; this does not disclose personally identifiable or field-specific location data.
We do not reveal personally identifiable Data to parties outside our third-party monitoring and verification partners for their independent use unless: (1) you request or authorize it; (2) the information is provided to help complete a transaction initiated by you; (3) the Financial Data is provided to a credit bureau or similar information reporting agency; or (4) the disclosure otherwise is lawfully permitted or required.
DATA SECURITY AND GOVERNANCE
We use technical, administrative, and physical security safeguards and other reasonable security measures to protect your Data against loss, misuse, interference, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. We seek to provide a secure online environment for your Data, but please be aware that, despite our ongoing efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Moreover, we are not responsible for the security of information that you transmit to us over networks that we do not control, including internet and wireless networks. We therefore cannot warrant the security of any information you provide to us over the internet, and you do so at your own risk, and we cannot be responsible for theft, loss, destruction or inadvertent disclosure of personal data.
We encourage you to play an important role in keeping your Data secure by maintaining the confidentiality of any passwords and account details used on our Site. It is your sole responsibility to maintain such confidentiality, and we will not be liable for any damage, loss, or expense suffered due to such disclosure.
We apply technical and administrative safeguards to protect Data processed by artificial intelligence or automated decision-making tools, consistent with the security measures described throughout this section.
We will notify you in not more than forty-eight (48) hours after we learn of any security breach that may result in the loss or destruction or unauthorized access, use, disclosure, transfer, or alteration of your Data. We will work with you to respond to and do damage limitation with respect to any such breach.
PRIVACY POLICY UPDATES
From time to time, we may change and post revisions to this Policy and such changes to this Policy will become effective upon the posting of the revised Policy on our Site. Any information we hold about you will be governed by our most current policy. We recommend that you periodically review this policy for any changes.
CONTACT US
If you have any questions or complaints about this Policy or our treatment of your Data, or if you would like to access or amend your Data, please contact us at contactus@theoutcomesfund.com.