Terms and Conditions

 

  1. DEFINITIONS

“Background IP” means any IPR controlled or owned by any party prior to the date of  commencement of these Terms and Conditions or IPR generated by any of the parties independently of the YEN and controlled or owned by that party or any IPR to which the party has the necessary rights for the purpose of the YEN.

“Contributor” means those who commit in advance to furthering the aims and purposes of the YEN,

“IPR” means any intellectual property rights of any description including but not limited  to patents, copyrights, design rights (registered or unregistered), trademarks, know-how, data and database rights.

 “Leader” means the or organisation responsible for the functional and financial viability of the YEN and thus for its continuation, transfer or termination, being RSK ADAS Limited (“ADAS”) as of the date of these Terms and Conditions.

“YEN” means Yield Enhancement Network. The YEN is a network of stakeholders (both individuals and organisations) jointly striving to enhance yield or another aspect of farm performance through ‘action research’ i.e. measurement and manipulation of performance at the scale of farm decision-making e.g. field-by-field. Performance targets may include crop yields, environmental impacts (like GHG emissions), crop quality, or crop health.

 

  1. YEN DATA AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1.0 YEN CONCEPT

ADAS owns the rights to the YEN Concept. Other parties seeking to copy, use, extend or otherwise exploit the ideas or procedures of the YEN, including any change of Leader, may only do so with the explicit written agreement of ADAS. Whilst it is acknowledged that other crop competitions pre-date creation of the YEN, aspects of the YEN that ADAS claims to be unique, and therefore define the value of the YEN Concept, are:

  1. The YEN brand, including its name ‘Yield Enhancement Network’, its acronym ‘YEN’, its logo, and this Constitution with appended Competition Rules;
    1. Use of the YEN brand and logo;
    2. Competition for % of potential yield as estimated by the YEN Model defined in Sylvester-Bradley & Kindred (2014[1]) and Clarke et al (2017[2]);
    3. Use of crop observations, sampling and analysis to explain winning yields and yield variation for all competitors; and

    4. Association of competition with scientific explanation of competition results and networking of competitors with scientists.

       

2.0 DATA OWNERSHIP AND RIGHTS

Subject to section 3 (DATA PROTECTION), each Contributor grants to ADAS and each other Contributor a royalty-free, non-exclusive, licence to use its Background IP as required to give effect to the provisions of these Terms and Conditions and purpose of the YEN.

Ownership in the data shared with the YEN remains with the Contributor. By sharing the data, each Contributor agrees that 

  1. ADAS controls all YEN data as a database (“YEN Database”) and consent to ADAS  using the data in an anonymised format for:
    • scientific research and analysis related to the YEN operation and its development;
      • benchmarking and longitudinal comparison;
      • reporting, publication and education;
      • protection and exploitation of the YEN Concept;
      • compliance with legal, regulatory or contractual obligations; and
      • any other use agreed in writing by the applicable Contributor and ADAS.

collectively the “Permitted Purposes”; and

  1. subject to section 3 (DATA PROTECTION) the data can be shared anonymously for the benefit of running YEN services, which includes creating shared learnings by the YEN community.

 

The Contributor has the right to give and revoke access to their stakeholders e.g. agronomist, farm manager, etc. to help manage the entry and the YEN account and (subject to retention rights) to remove their data from the YEN Database.

 

3.0 DATA SHARING AND ANALYSIS

The Leader has the right to charge reasonable costs to third parties for analysis of the anonymised YEN Database on the proviso that any learnings are shared with the YEN community before being used publicly by any organisation. Requests from third parties for access to and analysis of the YEN Database will be considered by the YEN steering group, by assessing each request on a case by case basis utilising a set of rules that are intended to govern ADAS’ analysis of the data for third parties.

With the agreement of YEN steering group, subsets of the anonymised YEN Database may be released under license to third parties (e.g., academic organisations, commercial organisations) on the proviso that any resulting outputs, learnings or publications will be shared with the YEN community. 

In instances where third parties do not want to share learnings and results with the YEN community, or where results do not directly benefit the community, higher license fees will be applied. Any license fees charged (with the exception of reasonable costs charged for the extraction of data and any analysis) will be ringfenced and utilised to fund additional activities which specifically benefit the YEN community. Examples of such activities could include: 

  1. Further analysis of the YEN database to provide additional insights which benefit UK farmers;
  2. ii) Networking meetings or events; and/or
  3. iii) Providing data access for PhD students. 

The steering group will govern how the ring fenced money is spent, with inputs from the YEN community. 

Data sharing exercises explained above may include location data, but will not include any other personal data. A precise location of the field with exact coordinates is very important for the dataset to integrate associated weather, landscape and satellite data, and will add considerably to the value of the dataset, especially as the potential to derive meaningful metrics from satellite data increases over time. To request latitude and longitude or your data to be omitted from any otherwise anonymised sharing of the dataset with third parties please email yen@adas.co.uk, providing sufficient detail of the data that is to be omitted. 

Data contributed to the YEN, including agronomic data and analytical outputs, may be retained and used by ADAS after the conclusion of a YEN season, the withdrawal of a Contributor, or the closure of a YEN where such retention and use is necessary for the Permitted Purposes (as defined above) and with agreement from the steering group.

 

  1. DATA PROTECTION

Data provided as part of the YEN network may include some personal data. All processing of personal data under the YEN shall be carried out in accordance with the UK GDPR, the DPA, and the GDPR where applicable. Personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently, and only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes connected with the operation, governance, analysis and reporting of the YEN.

Your personal data will only be shared where necessary for the administration, operation and support of the YEN, including with the ADAS YEN management group, relevant partner organisations, and approved service providers or advisers acting on ADAS’ behalf, and always subject to appropriate contractual, organisational and security safeguards. Personal data will not be sold, rented or otherwise disclosed for unrelated third-party marketing purposes. Agronomic data may be shared in anonymised or aggregated form where possible and in accordance with approval from the YEN steering group; where data is not fully anonymised, it will only be shared where there is an appropriate lawful basis and suitable safeguards in place.

1.0 OUR CORE BELIEFS REGARDING USER PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION

  • User privacy and data protection are core principles
  • We have a duty of care to the people within our data
  • We will never sell, rent or otherwise distribute or make public your personal information

2.0 RELEVANT LEGISLATION

Along with our business and internal computer systems, the Yield Enhancement Network is designed to comply with the following national and international legislation with regards to data protection and user privacy:

  • UK Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA)
  • UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
  • EU General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR)

This site’s compliance with the above legislation, all of which are stringent in nature, means that this site is likely compliant with the data protection and user privacy legislation set out by many other countries and territories as well. If you are unsure about whether this site is compliant with your own country of residences’ specific data protection and user privacy legislation you should contact us at yen@adas.co.uk for clarification.

3.0 PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED FOR YEN AND WHY WE COLLECT IT

As part of the YEN network, we collect and use personal information for the following reasons:

3.1 Contact Details

  • Contact details are provided by entrants in the Entry Pack and from data entered via the portal during the registration process. All personal data are restricted to the first sheet of the Entry Pack. 
  • Contact details are collected for the main on-farm entrant and supporters (e.g. agronomists) for each YEN entry.
  • Contact details are used as part of the network; to send current members (in-year entrants) supporting information (e.g. monthly YEN Actions) and resources (e.g. Entry Pack and Harvest Pack).
  • Contact details are also used to send out YEN Technical Newsletters to current members.
  • Current and previous entrants may also be contacted with information about future network deadlines, events, YEN updates and invitations to join similar projects or networks. 

3.2 Your Rights

Under the GDPR, from the 25th May 2018, you have several rights:

  • Right of access – you have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.
  • Right of rectification – you have a right to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.
  • Right to erasure – in certain circumstances you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records. Such requests will be assessed in accordance with data protection legislation and may be declined where continued processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligations, scientific or statistical purposes, or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. Wherever possible, personal data retained after cessation shall be anonymised or pseudonymised.
  • Right to restriction of processing – where certain conditions apply to have a right to restrict the processing.
  • Right of portability – you have the right to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation.
  • Right to object – you have the right to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing.
  • Right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, where that decision produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.
  • Right to judicial review: in the event that YEN refuses your request under rights of access, we will provide you with a reason as to why and you have the right to complain.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights please contact us on yen@adas.co.uk

4.0 Data storage

We ensure that appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be maintained to ensure the security and confidentiality of personal data, including controls on access, anonymisation and aggregation where appropriate . 

  • Your personal data will be stored on a secure server and will be password protected and encrypted
  • Your personal data has restricted access to named staff involved with the YEN service.
  • Your personal data when shared will have all personal data removed prior to the transfer.
  • Your personal data will not be sold to the third party or to any company for their mailing lists or marketing purposes.
  • Your personal data will not be retained for longer than necessary for the purposes for which it was obtained, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Where retention is necessary following the conclusion of a YEN season, the withdrawal of a Contributor, or the closure of a YEN, ADAS will retain personal data only to the extent necessary for compliance with legal obligations, scientific or statistical purposes, the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or other Permitted Purposes, and wherever possible such data will be anonymised or pseudonymised.

5.0  DATA BREACHES

We will report any unlawful data breach of the YEN Database or the database(s) of any of our third party data processors to any and all relevant persons and authorities within 72 hours of the breach if it is apparent that personal data stored in an identifiable manner has been stolen, and there is a high likelihood or severity of the resulting risk to people’s rights and freedoms.

6.0  DATA CONTROLLER AND DATA PROVIDERS

The data controller of the YEN database is: RSK ADAS limited, a UK Private limited Company with company number: 10486936

Whose registered office is: Spring Lodge, 172 Chester Road, Helsby, Cheshire UK WA6 0AR,

or such successor or licensee as agreed.

Contributors shall act as data providers, and where applicable as independent data controllers for any personal data they submit.

 

  1. CESSATION OF THE YEN

Leadership of the YEN may be passed to a new party, by written agreement with the existing Leader. The then-current Leader shall provide three months’ prior notice of such change to the steering group. 

The Leader shall give three months’ notice to the steering group of the cessation of the YEN.

Any provision of these Terms and Conditions that expressly or by implication is intended to come into or continue in force on or after ADAS ceases to be Leader of the YEN or termination of these Terms and Conditions shall remain in full force and effect.

  1. CHANGES TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS 

Supplemental terms and conditions or documents that may be posted on the YEN Platform from time to time are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. The Leader reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to make changes or modifications to these Terms and Conditions at any time and for any reason. 

The Leader will alert you about any changes by updating the “Last updated” date of these terms and conditions, and you waive any right to receive specific notice of each such change. 

It is your responsibility to periodically review these Terms and Conditions to stay informed of updates. You will be subject to and will be deemed to have been made aware of and to have accepted, the changes in any revised Terms and Conditions by your continued use of the YEN Platform after the date such revised terms and conditions are posted. 

  1. GOVERNING LAW

The information provided on the YEN Platform is not intended for distribution to or use by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject us to any registration requirement within such jurisdiction or country. 

Accordingly, those persons who choose to access the YEN Platform from other locations do so on their own initiative and are solely responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable. 

The YEN Platform is intended for users who are at least 18 years old. Persons under the age of 18 are not permitted to register for the YEN Platform. 

These Terms and Conditions and any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.

The courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with these Terms and Conditions or its subject matter or formation.

 

6.1 Change log

24 March 2020 V2.0

13/02/2026 Removed reference to the YEN charter, removed reference to Agrimetrics and replaced with portal in 3.1 and clarified the wording of privacy policy and terms and conditions in point 6.0

15/7/2026 – Review and update to sections 1 to 6. 


 

[1] Sylvester-Bradley, R. & Kindred, D.R. (2014). The Yield Enhancement Network: Philosophy, and results from the first season. Aspects of Applied Biology 125, Agronomic decision making in an uncertain climate, 53-62.

[2] Clarke C., Kindred D.R., et. al. (2017). A Yield Enhancement Network for oilseeds: estimating potential growth and yield. Aspects of Applied Biology 136, Sustainable Intensification, 1-8.