The article confirms what I suspected -- that the average Web surfer's data really isn't worth much. Eight dollars per month to track everything someone does? Forget it.

OTOH, business data should contain a lot of valuable information. We definitely should control who has access to it. And when we do share it, we should get something of equal value in return.

Now, the question is: What is its value? Somehow, getting back a yield map and maybe yield by variety or soil type just doesn't seem like enough. You could do this yourself.

What about cash? Suppose you shared:

• Planter data - variety, planting date/location, population.
• Sprayer data - products, dates.
• Harvest data - yield, moisture.
• Fertility data - soil tests, application rates/dates.
• Weather data - temperature and precipitation at your farm.

How much would this be worth to you? Would you let it go for $10/acre? More? Less? Let's put a number on it.