Nebraska Passes First-of-its-Kind Agricultural Data Law

On April 10, 2026, the Nebraska Legislature unanimously passed the Agricultural Data Privacy Act (the “Act”), enacted as Sections 1 through 10 of Legislative Bill 525. The governor signed it into law on April 14, 2026. 
 

Although Nebraska already regulates personal data through its general consumer-privacy statute, the Nebraska Data Privacy Act, that law is built around the personal data of individual consumers and does not squarely address the operational information generated by Nebraska farms. The Agricultural Data Privacy Act fills that gap. In fact, the Act is the first of its kind in the nation, as it is the first state statute enacted anywhere in the country to treat farm data as a proprietary asset owned by the producer. 
 

In practice, the Act treats the information flowing from a farm’s fields, equipment, and livestock as an asset that belongs to the producer, not to the technological companies that collect it. A “producer” (understood to be the owner, lessee, or renter of the farm, livestock, land, device, or equipment from which the data originates), now has explicit ownership and control over the data its farm operation generates. Under the provisions of the Act, a company that collects, stores, or uses that data gets only a limited, nonexclusive right to use the data for providing services, maintaining equipment, or data processing authorized by the producer. This limited right explicitly excludes the power to sell the data absent the producer’s express written consent. 
 

The Act defines agricultural data broadly to cover information collected, produced, or generated in Nebraska that is linked or reasonably linked to an identifiable producer, spanning six categories:

There are three carveouts from the definition of agricultural data under the Act: (1) aggregated data (i.e., data that is combined and summarized such that it cannot be linked back to the producer), (2) derived data (i.e., significantly processed or analyzed information such as agronomic insights and predictive models), and (3) data made publicly available by a government agency. 
 

The Act’s operative requirement is a consent rule. Entities subject to the Act may not sell agricultural data without the producer’s express written consent; where such consent must be obtained through a “clear and conspicuous disclosure that is separate from the primary terms of service or data use agreement.”
 

Furthermore, the Act imposes two additional significant obligations beyond the consent rule. First, beginning January 1, 2027, every new contract involving the collection or processing of agricultural data in Nebraska must include a specific clause prohibiting the sale of agricultural data without the producer’s express written consent. Any contract provision that tries to waive or limit the Act’s protections is “contrary to public policy” and void and unenforceable. Second, the Act obligates entities subject to the Act to establish and maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical data security practices to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of its held agricultural data. 

Enforcement

The Act is exclusively enforceable by the Nebraska Attorney General, with no private right of action available. Additionally, the Act contains a 45-day right-to-cure period, though such cure period is inapplicable to violations of the sale-consent requirement. Uncured violations are subject to penalties of up to $1,000 per alleged violation and injunctive action.

What This Means

The Act went into effect generally on July 17, 2027; though the requirement to include a clause prohibiting the sale of agricultural data in contracts with producers does not go into effect until January 1, 2027. Ag vendors, equipment manufacturers, data platforms, and other similarly-situated entities that collect agricultural data in Nebraska should review their data handling practices to ensure that they are not currently engaged in the sale of agricultural data, and if they are, cease such sales until express written consent can be obtained. Additionally, such entities should assess their security practices around agricultural data to ensure that they meet the Act’s requirements. Finally, such entities should begin the process of updating their contracts with Nebraska producers to include the statutorily required language. Businesses should also be aware that other states may soon follow in Nebraska’s footsteps and enact similar statutes.
 

Contact one of McGrath North’s privacy and compliance experts today for all your questions relating to Nebraska’s Agricultural Data Privacy Act.