Teagasc Data Privacy and Cookies Policy

Your privacy is of paramount importance to Teagasc, the Agriculture and Food Development Authority (hereinafter referred to as “Teagasc”, “we”, “us” or “our”). This Privacy and Cookies Policy (the "Policy") refers to this website(the "Website"). The Website is operated by Teagasc, whose principal place of business is Oak Park, Carlow, R93 XE12.

This Policy (together with our Terms of Use and any other documents referred to in such Terms of Use) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us, and applies to all of your personal data irrespective of the medium or method by which we obtained / received your Personal Data.

In this Policy, the term “Personal Data” means data relating to a living individual who is or can be identified either from the data or from the data in conjunction with other information that is in, or is likely to come into, our possession, and includes personal data as described in Data Protection Legislation (as defined below).

Please read the following carefully. By using our Website you (either "user" or "you") are acknowledging and accepting the terms of our Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Policy you must leave the Website immediately.

1. Information we gather from you

We fully respect your right to privacy in relation to your interactions with the Website and endeavour to guarantee to be transparent in our dealings with you as to what information we will collect and how we will use your information. Also, we only collect and use individual user details where we have a legal basis to do so under the Agriculture (Research, Training and Advice) Act 1988 (the “Agriculture Act”). Information in relation to personal data collected by Irish entities is available on www.dataprotection.ie, the website of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (“DPC”).

We will handle your Personal Data in accordance with Data Protection Legislation. “Data Protection Legislation” means the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 and Directive 95/46/EC, any other applicable law or regulation relating to the processing of personal data and to privacy (including the E-Privacy Directive), as such legislation shall be amended, revised or replaced from time to time, including by operation of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) (and laws implementing or supplementing the GDPR).

You must have an account with us (“Your Account”) in order to use our services. The account set up process requires the provision of Personal Data including a full name, password, email address, details of your farm including physical information (such as grass growth, size of farm etc.) or/and financial information (such as annual income of farm and profitability).

Teagasc is a Data Controller (as defined in Data Protection Legislation) in respect of your personal data. We have a legal basis for processing your Personal Data under the Agriculture Act.

We endeavour to keep all personal data that you provide to us accurate and up-to-date. As such, you must tell us about any changes to such information as soon as possible. You can update your information held in Your Account at any time or you can contact us to update your information we collect through our Website by using the details in the ‘How to Contact Us' section of this Policy.

2. Why we collect/have access to you information

Teagasc only processes your Personal Data (“Your Data”) for the purpose of: the delivery, development and enhancement of advice, training and scientific research on agriculture and food in accordance with the Agriculture Act and personalising the way our content is presented to you and to ensuring that content on our Website is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer/device.

This includes use of Your Data for the following purposes:

2.1 Scientific purposes for example PBI for grass growth forecasting;
2.2 National benchmarking; and
2.3 Group benchmarking.

Your Personal Data may be shared with other members of discussion groups on our Website of which you have agreed to become a member. Your Personal Data may be used as input for scientific research on agriculture and food. Your Personal Data may be aggregated to provide regional or national statistics (for example for grass growth or farm profitability).

3. Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your device by a web server which enables a website and/or mobile app to recognise repeat users, facilitate the user's ongoing access to and use of a website and/or mobile app and allows the website and/or mobile app to track usage behaviour and compile aggregate data that will allow content improvements and targeted advice.

We collate information which is represented in aggregate format through cookies.

We use the following cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies.
These are cookies that are required for the operation of our Website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our Website.

Analytical or performance cookies.
These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our Website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our Website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

Functionality cookies.
These are used to recognise you when you return to our Website. This enables us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).

Targeting cookies.
These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and

the links you have followed. This information may be used to make our website and any advertising more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

We use third parties such as Google Analytics to collect user information, including through the use of cookies (flash and non-flash) and web beacons. They help us to improve our Website and to deliver many of the functions that make your browser experience more user-friendly. To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

You can find a list of cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the tables in Appendix A.

You should also be aware that there are cookies which are found in other companies' internet tools which we are using to enhance the Website. You may see ‘social buttons’ during your use of the Website, including but not limited to Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook which enable you to share or bookmark certain web pages. These websites have their own cookies, which are controlled by them.

The ‘Help Menu’ on the menu bar of most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies altogether. You can also disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer.

For more information about cookies and managing them including how to turn them off, please visit www.cookiecentral.com.

Teagasc use essential cookies. Where essential/strictly necessary cookies are used, these may be disabled by adjusting browser settings. This will affect how the Website functions and will affect the user experience.

However, because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of the Website's essential features, we recommend you leave them turned on as otherwise you may not be able to properly experience the interactive features of the Website or other related websites which you visit.

4. Are there cases where we may use your information to contact you

We may contact you:

• for administration reasons related to the Website (e.g. to provide you with password reminders or to notify you that a particular service, activity or online content has been suspended for maintenance, or in response to a question that you ask us);
• to provide you with advice and information about our services, activities or online content. You should only receive e-newsletters or similar correspondence and updates from usif you have agreed to same as part of the registration process or in response to any contact you have made with us, e.g. on our Website, by email or via the ‘How to contact us’ facility. It will be made clear to you where you have made these choices, for example, by providing tick boxes for you to decide whether you wish to receive e-newsletters;
• to invite you to participate in surveys about our services (participation is always voluntary).

Where we wish to use your Personal Data in any other way, we will ensure that we notify you and get your consent first. You will be given the opportunity to withhold or withdraw your consent for the use of your Personal Data for purposes other than those listed in this Policy.

5. What rights do you have

As a data subject, you have the following rights under Data Protection Legislation and we, as Data Controller in respect of your Personal Data, will comply with such rights in respect of your Personal Data:

• the right of access to Personal Data relating to you;
• the right to correct any mistakes in your Personal Data;
• the right to ask us to stop contacting you with direct marketing;
• rights in relation to automated decision taking;
• the right to restrict or prevent your Personal Data being processed;
• the right to have your Personal Data ported to another data controller;
• the right to erasure; and
• the right to complain to the DPC if you believe we have not handled your Personal Data in accordance with Data Protection Legislation.

These rights are explained in more detail below, but if you have any comments, concerns or complaints about our use of your Personal Data, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below). We will respond to any rights that you exercise within a month of receiving your request, unless the request is particularly complex or cumbersome, in which case we will respond within three months (we will inform you within the first month if it will take longer than one month for us to respond). Where a response is required from us within a particular time period pursuant to Data Protection Legislation, we will respond within that time period.

Right of access to Personal Data relating to you

You may ask to see what Personal Data we hold about you and be provided with:

• a summary of such Personal Data and the categories of Personal Data held (see Section 1 and 2 above);
• details of the purpose for which it is being or is to be processed (see Section 2 above);
• details of the recipients or classes of recipients to whom it is or may be disclosed, including if they are overseas and what protections are used for those oversea transfers (see Section 7 below);
• details of the period for which it is held (or the criteria we use to determine how long it is held) (see Section 12 below);
• details of your rights, including the rights to rectification, erasure, restriction or objection to the processing (set out in this Section 5);
• any information available about the source of that data (see Section 1 above);
• whether we carry out automated decision-making, or profiling, and where we do, information about the logic involved and the envisaged outcome or consequences of that decision making or profiling (set out in this Section 5); and
• where your Personal Data are transferred out of the EEA, what safeguards are in place (see Section 7 below).

Details in respect of the above points are all set out in this Privacy Policy; however, if you need further clarification, please contact us (see ‘How To Contact Us’ below).

Requests for your Personal Data must be made to us (see 'How To Contact Us' below) specifying what Personal Data you need access to, and a copy will be retained by us. To help us find the information easily, please give us as much information as possible about the type of information you would like to see. If, to comply with your request, we would have to disclose information relating to or identifying another person, we may need to obtain the consent of that person, if possible. If we cannot obtain consent, we may need to withhold that information or edit the data to remove the identity of that person, if possible.

There are certain types of data which we are not obliged to disclose to you, which include Personal Data which records our intentions in relation to any negotiations with you where disclosure would be likely to prejudice those negotiations. We are also entitled to refuse a data access request from you where (i) such request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, in particular because of its repetitive character (in this case, if we decide to provide you with the Personal Data requested, we may charge you a reasonable fee to account for administrative costs of doing so), or (ii) we are entitled to do so pursuant to Data Protection Legislation.

Right to update your Personal Data or correct any mistakes in your Personal Data

You can require us to correct any mistakes in your Personal Data which we hold free of charge. If you would like to do this, please:

• email or write to us (see ‘How can you contact us’ below);
• let us have enough information to identify you (e.g. name, registration details); and
• let us know the information that is incorrect and what it should be replaced with.

If we are required to update your Personal Data, we will inform recipients to whom that Personal Data have been disclosed (if any), unless this proves impossible or has a disproportionate effort.

It is your responsibility that all of the Personal Data provided to us is accurate and complete. If any information you have given us changes, please let us know as soon as possible (see ‘How To Contact Us’ below).

Right to ask us to stop contacting you with direct marketing

You can ask us to stop contacting you for direct marketing purposes. If you would like to do this, please:

• email or write to us (see ‘How can you contact us’ below). You can also click on the ‘unsubscribe’ button at the bottom of the electronic communication. It may take up to 15 days for this to take place; and
• let us know what method of contact you are not happy with if you are unhappy with certain ways of contacting you only (for example, you may be happy for us to contact you by email but not by telephone).

We will provide you with information on action taken on a request to stop direct marketing - this may be in the form of a response email confirming that you have ‘unsubscribed’. Unsubscribing from direct marketing does not unsubscribe you from essential electronic communications in respect of the administration of Your Account.

Rights in relation to automated decision taking (if applicable)

You may ask us to ensure that, if we are evaluating you, we don’t base any decisions solely on an automated process and have any decision reviewed by a member of staff. Profiling may occur in relation to your Personal Data for the purposes of our targeted advice and de-targeting you from specified advice. This allows us to tailor our advice to the appropriate clients and helps to minimise the risk of you receiving unwanted advice. These rights will not apply in all circumstances, for example where the decision is (i) authorised or required by law, (ii) necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us, or (ii) is based on your explicit consent. In all cases, we will endeavour that steps have been taken to safeguard your interests.

Right to restrict or prevent processing of Personal Data

In accordance with Data Processing Legislation, you may request that we stop processing your Personal Data temporarily if:

• you do not think that your Personal Data is accurate (but we will start processing again once we have checked and confirmed that it is accurate);
• the processing is unlawful but you do not want us to erase your Personal Data;
• we no longer need the Personal Data for our processing; or
• you have objected to processing because you believe that your interests should override the basis upon which we process your Personal Data.

If you exercise your right to restrict us from processing your Personal Data, we will continue to process the Personal Data if:

• you consent to such processing;
• the processing is necessary for the exercise or defence of legal claims;
• the processing is necessary for the protection of the rights of other individuals or legal persons; or
• the processing is necessary for public interest reasons.

Right to data portability

In accordance with Data Protection Legislation, you may ask for an electronic copy of your Personal Data that you have provided to us and which we hold electronically, or for us to provide this directly to another party. This right only applies to Personal Data that you have provided to us – it does not extend to data generated by us. In addition, the right to data portability also only applies where:

• the processing is based on your consent or for the performance of a contract; and
• the processing is carried out by automated means.

Right to erasure

In accordance with Data Protection Legislation, you can ask (please see ‘How To Contact Us' below) us to erase your Personal Data where:

• you do not believe that we need your Personal Data in order to process it for the purposes set out in this Policy;
• if you had given us consent to process your Personal Data, you withdraw that consent and we cannot otherwise legally process your Personal Data;
• you object to our processing and we do not have any legal basis for continuing to process your Personal Data;
• your Personal Data has been processed unlawfully or have not been erased when it should have been; or
• the Personal Data have to be erased to comply with law.

We may continue to process your Personal Data in certain circumstances in accordance with Data Protection Legislation. Where you have requested the erasure of your Personal Data, we will inform recipients to whom that Personal Data have been disclosed, unless this proves impossible or involves disproportionate effort. We will also inform you about those recipients if you request it.

Right to complain to the DPC

If you do not think that we have processed your Personal Data in accordance with this Policy, please contact us in the first instance. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the DPC or exercise any of your other rights pursuant to Data Protection Legislation. Information about how to do this is available on the DPC website at https://www.dataprotection.ie

6. Withdrawal of consent

If you no longer consent to our processing of your Personal Data (in respect of any matter referred to in this Policy as requiring your consent), you may request that we cease such processing by contacting us via the ‘How To Contact Us’ facility referred to below. Please note that if you withdraw your consent to such processing, for example in respect of the use of cookies, it may not be possible for us to provide all/part of the service to you.

7. Who we share your information with

We may disclose your personal information to any business unit, company or other legal entity under the control and direction of Teagasc.

As stated above, with your consent, we may also use your data, or permit selected third parties to use your data, to provide you with information about goods and services which may be of interest to you and we or they may contact you about these. We reserve the right to access and disclose personal data in compliance with Data Protection Legislation.

We may also use service providers to help us run the Website or services available on the Website. Any third parties who access your data in the course of providing services on our behalf are subject to strict contractual restrictions to ensure that your data is protected, in compliance with Data Protection Legislation.

Your Personal Data may be transferred to, stored at, or accessed from a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) for the purposes of us providing the services available on the Website. It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us, another corporate entity within our group, or any of our suppliers. By submitting your Personal Data, you explicitly consent to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your Personal Data is treated securely and in accordance with this Policy. The safeguards in place with regard to the transfer of your Personal Data outside of the EEA to third parties are the entry by us into appropriate contracts with all transferees of such data.

All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access the services on our Website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with any person not authorised to use the services on our Website.

8. Third party websites

This Policy applies to websites and services that are owned and operated by Teagasc. We do not exercise control over the sites/applications that may be linked from our Website. These other sites/applications may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal information from you. You acknowledge that the service that we provide and our Website may enable or assist you to access the Website content of, correspond with, and purchase products and services from, third parties via third-party websites and that you do so solely at your own risk. We make no representation or commitment and shall have no liability or obligation whatsoever in relation to the content or use of, or correspondence with, any such third-party website, or any transactions completed, and any contract entered into by you, with any such third party and the use by any such third-party of your Personal Data. We do not endorse or approve any third-party website nor the content of any of the third-party website made available via the Website. We encourage you to carefully familiarise yourself with the terms of use and privacy policies applicable to any websites and/or services operated by third parties. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of any third parties.

9. Offensive content

If you post or send content which may reasonably be deemed to be offensive, inappropriate or objectionable anywhere on the Website or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on any Teagasc service, we may remove such content and disable Your Account.

Where we reasonably believe that you are or may be in breach of any applicable laws, for example on hate speech, we may disclose your personal information to relevant third parties, including to law enforcement agencies or your internet provider. We would only do so in circumstances where such disclosure is permitted under applicable laws, including Data Protection Legislation.

10. How do we protect your personal information

We do our utmost to protect user privacy through the appropriate use of security technology. We restrict access to your Personal Data to employees, contractors and agents who need to know such your Personal Data in order to operate, develop or improve the services that we provide. We ensure that we have appropriate physical and technological security measures to protect your information; and we ensure that when we outsource any processes that the service provider has appropriate security measures in place. However, the Website may contain hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third party websites have their own privacy policies, including cookies. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and your use of such websites is at your own risk.

We will implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risks that are presented by the processing of your Personal Data. In particular, we will consider the risks presented by accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to your Personal Data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee the security of any data transmitted us and any such transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access. To the extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for any delays, delivery failures, or any other loss or damage resulting from (i) the transfer of data over communications networks and facilities, including the internet, or (ii) any delay or delivery failure on the part of any other service provider not contracted by us, and you acknowledge that the Website and the services on the Website may be subject to limitations, delays and other problems inherent in the use of such communications facilities. You will appreciate that we cannot guarantee the absolute prevention of cyber-attacks such as hacking, spyware and viruses. Accordingly, you will not hold us liable for any unauthorized disclosure, loss or destruction of your Personal Data arising from such risks.

11. Breach reporting

We will notify serious data breaches in respect of your Personal Data to the DPC without undue delay, and where feasible, not later than 72 hours after having become aware of same. If notification is not made after 72 hours, we will record a reasoned justification for the delay; however, it is not necessary to notify the DPC where the Personal Data breach is unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons. A Personal Data breach in this context means a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, Personal Data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed.

We will keep a record of any data breaches, including their effects and the remedial action taken, and will notify you of any data breach affecting your Personal Data (which poses a high risk to you) when we are required to do so under Data Protection Legislation. We will not be required to notify you of a data breach where:

• we have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures that render the Personal Data unintelligible to anyone not authorised to access it, such as encryption; or
• we have taken subsequent measures which ensure that the high risk to data subjects is not likely to materialise; or
• it would involve disproportionate effort, in which case we may make a public communication instead.

12. Retention of personal data

Any of your Personal Data that you provide to us will be kept and stored for such period of time as we deem necessary taking into account the purpose for which it was collected in the first instance, and our obligations under Data Protection Legislation. In general, your Personal Data will be retained by us for as long as you are a client of Teagasc and for 10 years thereafter.

13. Amendments to Policy

This Policy may be updated from time to time, so you may wish to check it each time you submit personal information to the Website. The date of the most recent revisions will appear on this page. If you do not agree to these changes, please do not continue to use this Website to submit personal information. If material changes are made to the Policy, we will notify you by placing a prominent notice on the Website or by sending you a notification in relation to this. We will not process your Personal Data in a manner not contemplated by this Policy without your consent.

14. How to contact us

If you need to contact us with regard to any of your rights as set out in this Policy, all such requests should be made in writing to Data Protection Officer, Teagasc, Oak Park, Carlow, R93 XE 12, or by email to dpo@teagasc.ie. Unsubscribing from electronic communications can be achieved by pressing the ‘unsubscribe’ (or similar button on the electronic communication received).

We will appoint and maintain a Data Protection Officer in accordance with Data Protection Legislation. The contact details of our current Data Protection Officer are: Data Protection Officer, Teagasc, Oak Park, Carlow, R93 XE 12, or by email to dpo@teagasc.ie.

Appendix A – Cookies in Use on Teagasc Websites

First Party Cookies

Third Party Cookies

Note: The list of third party cookies is incomplete and will be added to as further information becomes available.