“Personal information” is information that identifies, relates to or can be associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, to an identified or identifiable individual  or household.  This can include, for example, information that you provide to us directly through your interactions with our websites.  your name, email and physical addresses, telephone numbers, or credit card number.  In addition, personal information may include inferences we may draw about you based on information about you that you have provided to us, your use of our Websites, or that we have obtained from other sources, such as government data. 

“Personal information” does not include publicly available information.  It also does not include information that has been deidentified so that it cannot reasonably be used to infer information about, or otherwise be linked to, a particular consumer.  

1. Personal Information We Collect From You When You Use Our Websites

We collect personal information when you browse or use our Websites, register for our Websites or other services, purchase products or services, register for or attend events, interact with our customer service or sales teams, or with our editorial staff. Some information you provide to us directly, some we collect automatically when you use our Websites, and we may also collect personal information about you from other sources, such as if you come to our Websites from a social media website.

You do not need to provide any personal information to browse the home pages of our FJ Websites. However, to register for or to use most of the features of our FJ Website, you must provide certain personal information, as specified at the particular place where you are registering. If you do not provide the information, you will not be able to register or use the features of FJ Websites that require you to provide that information.

The personal information collected by the FJ Websites may vary among the Websites. Although not all of these categories of information necessarily are collected by each of our Websites, the categories of personal information that we collect in any 12-month period, the purposes for which we collect it, include:

a. Identifiers such as your first and last name, your email address, your Internet Protocol address, your postal address (including state, postal code, and country), or telephone number.   

We use identifying information, such as your name, email address, postal address (including state, postal code, and country), and telephone or mobile device number to create your account, to contact you, and to provide you services that you request, such as by text message, SMS, email, or via a browser. 

We also use name and address information, together with financial account information (such as credit card numbers), to process payments that you make for our products and services.  

On occasion, we may send you emails containing promotional material on behalf of other companies or organizations that have a product or service we believe may be of interest to you. You can control what emails we send you as explained in the “Choice” section below.

Identifiers also include small data files called “cookies” that our Websites set on your computer, as further described below.

b. Information that identifies, relates to, describes, or is capable of being associated with you, including your signature, physical characteristics or description, education, or employment. 

We collect and use this information for the purpose of providing editorial content through our various Websites and publications, including newsletters, when we publish news or profiles of you or other individuals.

We use information about your educational attainment: (a) in selecting editorial content to deliver to you; and (b) in developing content and audience for our educational programs.

c. Mobile device number and unique device identifiers that can be used to identify a device’s physical location, as well as other information about the device such as the wireless carrier; the make, model, operating system, capacity, and settings of the device; and the names, package IDs, and versions of other software downloaded to the device. 

We use this information for the purpose of delivering our Websites and newsletters to your devices and enabling them to be displayed on your devices.

d. Internet or digital activity.  This information includes browsing history, search history, and other information regarding a consumer’s interaction with our Websites.  

We maintain records of your browsing and search history within our Websites and similar information regarding your interactions with our Websites, including products or services that you may have considered purchasing, receiving or consuming, or have purchased, received or consumed,  We use this information to monitor traffic on our Websites, to identify topics of interest to our users, and to provide more relevant content, products, and service to you in the future.

e. Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information.  

We use audio, electronic, and visual information in our editorial products and services, on our Websites, and in some cases for training of our Customer Support or Sales teams.

f. Professional or employment-related information. 

We use this information for the purpose of managing your account and understanding our customer base.  

Also, our editorial staff may also collect (separately) and use information about your educational attainment: (a) in selecting editorial content to deliver to you; and (b) in developing content and audience for our educational programs and our Websites and publications.  Our editorial staff would collect this information in the course of reporting on matters of interest; it would not obtain it from our business operations.

g. Any content that you provide to us by email or other communication.  

We use this information for the purpose of responding to your communication.

h. Any content that you post or upload to any of our Websites. 

We publish this information on the Website to which you post it, consistent with our rules of use.  

We specifically disclaim any or all responsibility for any subsequent use by any third-party or third-party websites of an email address or any other personal information that has been posted by any user in Bulletin Board Discussions on an FJ Website.

i. Agricultural interests.

We collect information about your agricultural interests when you use our Websites, when you subscribe to any of our newsletters, or when you purchase any of our editorial products.   We also may collect information about your agricultural interests when you register for an event.  We use such information to provide you with content and services appropriate to your interests on our Websites, our newsletters and other products, and in our events.

We may also use this information to identify our customers who might be interested in receiving promotional materials from our advertising partners.  As described below, we would not share your personal information with our advertising partners.

j. Records of our services or products that you have purchased, received or consumed, and any billing, shipping and confirmation information that you have provided to us in connection with a transaction.

We use this information for the purpose of managing your account and fulfill your transactions.  

We may also use this information to identify our customers who might be interested in receiving promotional materials from our advertising partners.  As described below, we would not share your personal information with our advertising partners.

However, please note that your credit card information is collected by a service provider with which FJ contracts to process your payment; FJ does not collect or retain credit card information. If you prefer not to provide such information online but are still interested in receiving FJ Website products and services, you may call us at: (800) 331-9310 or email CustomerService@farmjournal.com.   

k. Military status. 

Our editorial staff may also collect (separately) and use information about your military record for our Websites and publications.  Our editorial staff would collect this information in reporting on matters of interest; it would not obtain it from our business operations.

l. Inferences drawn from any of the categories of information listed herein to create a profile of a person.  

We use this information for the purpose of understanding our customers and designing and delivering content to users, including advertising, across our family of FJ Websites.  We do not develop profiles to further decisions that could produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning you as a customer.

Our editorial staff may develop a profile of you when generating content for publication on our Websites or in our newsletters.  

m. Any other data that we are required to collect by law. 

We would use that information for the purpose required by law.

 

2. Some of our Websites may collect more sensitive personal information.  The categories of sensitive personal information that we collect in any 12-month period include financial information (for payment).  

a. Financial account numbers.  We use financial account information (such as credit card numbers), together with name and address information, to process payments that you make for our products and services.  You must provide this information to obtain access to subscriber services.

b. Photographs.  Our editorial staff may use your photograph when generating editorial content for publication on our Websites or in our newsletters.  We obtain permission to use photographs, whether taken by FJ employees, freelancer photographers, or by friends or family of the person photographed.

c. Religion.  We do not collect information on individuals’ religion or ethnicity.  

d.  Characteristics of protected classifications, including race, gender, age, sexual orientation, family status, ancestry, and citizenship/immigration status.  

We may collect information regarding your race, gender or age when you register to use our Websites or from public sources.  We use this information for the purpose of understanding our customers and designing and delivering content to users, including advertising.  We do not develop profiles to further decisions that could produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning you as a customer.

Our editorial staff may collect or use a person’s race, gender, age, or ancestry when generating content for publication on our Websites or in our newsletters.  We are unlikely to collect a customer’s citizenship/immigration status.

e. In some instances,any dietary or disability restrictions (such as when you register for an in-person event).

We would use any dietary or disability restrictions when processing a registration for an event.

f. Biometric information. 

We do not collect biometric information.

g. Geolocation data (within 1,750 feet).

We use information about your location to provide relevant and requested content, and to tailor special offers and advertising to your interests, both in our Services, and in third-party marketing channels.

h. Mental or physical health.

Our editorial staff may collect and, as appropriate, information regarding a person’s mental or physical health in connection with developing content for publication on our Websites or in our newsletters.  It would publish such information only where deemed appropriate and relevant to the editorial content being published.

3. Personal information we collect automatically

When you use our Websites, we may collect certain personal information automatically. The categories of information we may collect automatically may include:

a. Information collected as part of your use of the Websites, including pages viewed, the duration of your visits, links on which you clicked, and any purchases made.

We use this information to manage and improve our Website, to process payments for our products and services, and to fulfill any purchases that you may make.  We may also use information regarding the pages that you viewed on our Websites to provide you with advertising appropriate to your interests.

b. The Internet Protocol address of your device.

We use your IP address to deliver to you the content that you request.

c. Location data, including from a mobile device. 

We use information about your location to provide relevant and requested content, and to tailor special offers and advertising to your interests, both in our Services, and in third-party marketing channels.  

d. Technical data related to your usage of our Websites, such as referral URLs, times of access, and your language settings. 

We collect and use this data to characterize our traffic, to understand from what areas our users are coming, times during the day or week when they use our Websites, and what language users request.  

e. Device type, its operating system, browser type, and settings.

We collect and use this data to deliver to you the content that you request and to characterize our traffic in terms of what types of devices, operating systems, and Internet browsers are used to access our Websites.

 

4. Personal information we collect through cookies or similar technologies

We use "cookies" and similar technologies (such as pixels, JavaScript, device identifiers, etc.) on our Websites.  These are stored on your computer's hard drive to identify the device, which can enable your device to load the content that you want more quickly when you revisit our Websites. While cookies can identify a particular computer hard drive, by themselves they do not reveal or disclose the identity of an individual user. However, if you choose to provide personal information to us, the cookie on your computer will be linked to that information and thereby become personal information. This explains why and how we use these technologies and your right to control their use.

 

If you wish to maintain complete anonymity, you may choose to reject all cookies and not to provide any personal information. However, if you choose to reject cookies from FJ Websites, certain functions and applications may not work as a result, and you will not benefit from the personalized and enhanced services discussed throughout this policy.