USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has awarded the University of Maryland a $936,310 grant to support the development of the NASA Acres Confidential, Co-created, Collaborative Computational (4-C) System, a new initiative designed to advance agricultural data sharing while protecting producer privacy and data sovereignty. The funding was awarded under NIFA’s Open Data Framework program.
The 4-C System will establish a neutral, secure data cooperative where agricultural producers, land-grant and other universities, nonprofits, and private companies can contribute, analyze, and benefit from agricultural data and proprietary models without exposing sensitive information or surrendering control over their data and intellectual property.
“We’re building the 4-C System because producers shouldn’t have to choose between retaining sovereignty over their data and benefiting from it,” said Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft, Executive Director of NASA Acres. “4-C creates a confidential computing space co-governed by farmers and the researchers that allows farm data, open satellite data, and public-good science to combine only under mutual consent.”
The project builds on the work of NASA Acres, NASA’s consortium supporting American agriculture, led by the University of Maryland. Launched in 2023, NASA Acres brings together farmers, ranchers, researchers, and agricultural organizations across the United States to translate Earth observation science and data into practical solutions that improve agricultural productivity, profitability, and resilience. With more than 40 projects, 11 primary organizations, and over 70 collaborating partners, the consortium connects scientific innovation with the needs and priorities of American agricultural producers.
A central component of this mission is NASA Acres’ ongoing work to build trust between agricultural producers and the research community. Through its Trust Infrastructure initiatives, NASA Acres combines direct farmer engagement, transparent data governance, and privacy-protecting technologies to address longstanding concerns about agricultural data sharing. With the backing of its Farm Innovation Ambassador Team (FIAT), NASA Acres is advancing a co-governance approach that gives producers a direct role in shaping how their data is managed, shared, and used. Working with Ag Data Transparent, NASA Acres developed its 13 Core Principles for Agricultural Data Use, which provide a framework for clear, transparent agreements governing how farmer data is collected, accessed, used, and protected.
For participating farmers, protecting data privacy is fundamental to building the trust necessary for meaningful collaboration.
“A working relationship between NASA, NASA Acres, USDA, and farmers is invaluable as long as it is one that encompasses respect of data privacy and this grant will absolutely help foster that relationship,” said Lance Lillibridge, a FIAT member and Iowa corn farmer.
NASA Acres has also advanced the development of secure, privacy-protecting computational systems. In collaboration with Microsoft and the Harvest Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture Initiative, the consortium successfully demonstrated a Confidential Clean Room framework that allows researchers to analyze agricultural data using proprietary models while safeguarding both producer information and intellectual property.
Dr. Kent Martin, a NASA Acres FIAT member, professor of agronomy at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, and sixth-generation Oklahoma farmer and rancher, highlighted the potential of shared agricultural data to benefit farmers, researchers, and society more broadly.
“How the data is handled will determine who gets to use the data to transform farming,” Martin said. “NASA Acres is leading the way that not only makes farmers comfortable to share their data, but also makes them excited to extract value from their data through tools NASA Acres can develop.”
Martin also emphasized that combining data from multiple farms could create new opportunities to improve agricultural practices while benefiting the environment and society. “Farmers understand this, but need assurances that the data they contribute is safely stored, used, and remains in their control. That is why this Open Data Project is so important.”
The new 4-C System will bring these efforts together through three interconnected infrastructures:
Computational Infrastructure: An auditable Confidential Clean Room built on open-source frameworks, enabling secure data storage and analysis while preserving data sovereignty.
Trust Infrastructure: A framework grounded in transparency and producer engagement, cultivated through NASA Acres’ Farm Innovation Ambassador Team (FIAT), which brings farmers and researchers together to co-develop solutions to real-world agricultural challenges.
Analytical Infrastructure: A producer-guided approach based on the internationally recognized Essential Agriculture Variables framework and USDA FAIR data principles.
Co-created with American agricultural producers, the 4-C System will be tested using real agricultural data and questions from the field. Together, these infrastructures aim to reduce producer costs, improve profitability and production efficiency, protect privacy and intellectual property, create new revenue opportunities, and enable innovation across the agricultural sector.
“This opens up the kind of innovation capacity that can really transform the data for farmers, and really help us as researchers build more valuable things, more quickly,” Whitcraft added. “Our vision is that this system will lower producer costs, increase profitability and production efficiencies, protect privacy and intellectual property, open new revenue streams, and unlock multisectoral innovation. When trust is built into the infrastructure, data stops being a risk and starts being a shared asset for the whole American agrifood system.”
Learn more: USDA NIFA Award Announcement | NASA Acres Trust Infrastructure