1. Information We Collect

We collect information you provide directly, including:

Account information — name, email address, and password when you create an account.
Farm & operational data — animal records, health events, financial transactions, egg production logs, pasture data, and other information you enter into the Service.
Marketplace profile data — farm name, address, city, state, phone number, email, website, social media links, photos, farming practices, product categories, operating hours, payment methods, delivery options, and farmers market locations that you add to your public farm profile.
Livestock listing data — animal breed, species, sex, age, registration number, registry name, genetic traits (A2 status, polled, chondro, PHA), pedigree information (sire and dam names), color, photos, and pricing that you include in livestock-for-sale listings.
Billing information — payment details are processed and stored by Stripe; we do not store your full credit card number.
Banking data (Plaid) — if you connect a bank account via Plaid, we receive transaction data (amounts, dates, merchant names). Access tokens are AES-256 encrypted at rest.

We also collect standard usage data such as IP address, browser type, pages visited, and session duration through server logs and analytics.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

Provide, maintain, and improve the Service.
Process billing and manage your subscription.
Generate reports (e.g., Schedule F summaries) that you request.
Display your public farm profile, product listings, and livestock listings to prospective buyers on the Howdy Ag marketplace and search results.
Send transactional emails (account verification, password resets, billing receipts).
Communicate product updates or changes to these policies (you may opt out of non-essential emails).
Detect and prevent fraud or abuse.

3. Public Profiles & Marketplace Data

Certain data you provide is intentionally made public through the marketplace. This section explains what is public and how it is used.

Public farm profiles. When you create a marketplace profile, your farm name, location (city, state, and approximate geographic coordinates), contact information you provide (phone, email, website, social media), photos, farming practices, product categories, and other profile details are visible to anyone on the internet, including users without a Howdy Ag account. Public profiles may also be indexed by external search engines.
Geocoding. We use the Google Maps Geocoding API and the U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder to convert your farm address into geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude). These coordinates are stored in our database and used to show your farm in location-based search results (e.g., “farms within 50 miles”). Coordinates are approximate and do not pinpoint your exact address. You may update or remove your address at any time.
Livestock listings. Animal details you include in livestock listings (breed, genetics, pedigree, registration, pricing) are publicly visible. If you link a listing to a private animal record, only the fields relevant to the listing are published — your full herd management data remains private.
Order data. When a buyer places an order through your marketplace listings, their name, email address, and any shipping information they provide will be shared with you to fulfill the order. You are responsible for handling buyer data in accordance with applicable privacy laws.
Removal. You may unpublish your farm profile or delete individual listings at any time, which will remove them from our search results. Cached versions may persist in external search engine indexes for a period outside our control.

4. Marketplace Analytics

We collect analytics data about how the marketplace is used to help sellers understand their visibility and improve the Service. This includes:

Impressions. When your farm profile or livestock listing appears in search results, we record that it was shown, along with the search query and approximate geographic area of the search.
Page views. When someone visits your public farm profile, we record the visit.
Contact clicks. When a visitor clicks your phone number, email, website, or directions link, we record the action type (but not the visitor’s identity).
Search data. We record search queries and the approximate geographic coordinates of searches to improve search relevance. Search data is not linked to individual user accounts for anonymous (non-logged-in) visitors.

Sellers can view aggregate analytics (impression counts, page views, contact rates) for their own farm through the marketplace analytics dashboard. We do not share individual seller analytics with other sellers or third parties.

5. Search Placement & Ranking

Search results on the farm discovery page and livestock search are influenced by several factors including geographic proximity, subscription tier, recent account activity, and administrative boosts. Paid-tier farms with recent management activity may appear higher in search results than free-tier farms. We do not accept payment specifically for search placement outside of the subscription tier structure.

6. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell your personal information. We share data only with the following categories of service providers, each under contractual data-protection obligations:

Supabase — database hosting, authentication, and file storage (including marketplace profile photos and animal photos).
Vercel — application hosting and deployment.
Stripe — subscription billing and marketplace payment processing via Stripe Connect. When you enable online sales, you create your own Stripe Connected Account subject to Stripe’s terms. Buyer payment data flows through Stripe and is not stored in our systems.
Plaid — bank account connectivity (only if you opt in).
Google Maps — we use the Google Maps Geocoding API to convert farm addresses into geographic coordinates for location-based search. Only your farm address is sent to Google for this purpose. We also use Google Maps to display farm locations on the discovery map.
U.S. Census Bureau — we use the Census Geocoder as an alternative geocoding service for address-to-coordinate conversion.
AI providers — certain features (such as receipt scanning and the farm assistant) send limited data to third-party AI services for processing. Data sent to AI providers is used solely to generate your results and is not used to train AI models. We do not send animal records, financial summaries, or personally identifiable information to AI providers unless you explicitly initiate a feature that requires it.

We may also disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or court order, or to protect the rights and safety of Howdy Hills LLC and its users.

7. Data Storage & Security

Your Data is stored on Supabase-managed PostgreSQL databases with row-level security enabled. All data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest. Plaid access tokens receive additional AES-256-GCM encryption. Marketplace photos are stored in Supabase Storage buckets with access controls. We implement industry-standard security practices but cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Data Breach Notification

In the event of a security breach that compromises your personal data, we will notify affected users via email within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach, in accordance with applicable state and federal notification laws. We will also notify relevant regulatory authorities as required.

9. Data Retention

We retain Your Data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, you may request an export of Your Data within 30 days. After that window, we will begin deleting Your Data from production systems. Residual copies in encrypted backups may persist for up to 90 days before being fully purged. Some data may be retained longer where required by law (e.g., tax records).

Marketplace-specific retention: When you delete your account or unpublish your farm profile, your public profile and listings are removed from our search results immediately. Marketplace analytics data (impression counts, page views, search queries) may be retained in anonymized, aggregate form for service improvement purposes. Completed marketplace order records may be retained as required by applicable tax and commerce regulations.

10. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to:

Access your personal data and receive a copy.
Correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Delete your account and associated data.
Export your data in a standard format.
Object to certain types of processing.
Unpublish your marketplace profile and remove your data from public search results at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, email support@howdyag.farm. We will respond within 30 days.

11. Cookies & Analytics

We use essential cookies for authentication and session management. We do not currently use third-party analytics services for general page tracking. We do not use advertising cookies or sell data to advertisers. Marketplace analytics (Section 4) are collected server-side and do not use cookies or client-side tracking scripts.

12. State Privacy Rights (U.S.)

If you are a resident of California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, or another state with a consumer privacy law, you may have additional rights including the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to delete it, and the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell or share personal information as defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) or the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA). Marketplace analytics data collected about anonymous visitors (search queries, approximate search locations) is not linked to identifiable individuals and is used solely for service improvement. To exercise your rights, email support@howdyag.farm. We will respond within 30 days (or sooner if required by your state’s law).

13. Children’s Privacy

The Service is not intended for users under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect information from children. If we learn that we have collected data from a child, we will delete it promptly.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify you via email or an in-app prompt, update the version number and effective date above, and require you to affirmatively accept the updated policy before continuing to use the Service. For non-material changes, your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

Questions? Contact us at support@howdyag.farm.