The short version
- Ecometric Ltd decides how the personal information in this notice is used, which makes us its controller.
- We collect what we need to answer enquiries, measure your soil, run the customer portal and keep proper accounts. We never sell personal information.
- Your farm’s results are yours. We use them to deliver your service and only in the other ways this notice sets out.
- Google Analytics, maps and videos only run if you allow them. You can change your mind at any time.
- You can ask to see, correct or delete your information by emailing info@ecometric.co.uk.
- You can object at any time to our use of your information for direct marketing, and to any use that relies on our legitimate interests. See your rights.
- Who we are
- The information we collect
- How we use it and why
- Your farm data
- Marketing
- Cookies
- Who we share it with
- Transfers outside the UK
- How long we keep it
- How we protect it
- Your rights
- Complaints
- Automated decisions
- Children
- Changes to this notice
1. Who we are
Ecometric Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales under company number 13499423. Our registered office is Fraser Ross House, 24 Broad Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 1PJ.
For anything about this notice or your information, email info@ecometric.co.uk with “Data protection” in the subject line, or write to us at our registered office. A director is responsible for data protection. We have not appointed a data protection officer because the law does not require one for the work we do.
This notice covers ecometric.co.uk, the customer portal, public proof pages, our quote process and the services we provide to farmers, landowners, project developers and carbon credit buyers.
2. The information we collect
When you visit the website
- The technical information every browser sends: IP address, browser and device type, the pages requested and when. Our host keeps this in server logs to run and protect the website.
- Visit statistics recorded on our own server: pages viewed, the site you came from, country, browser and a shortened IP address.
- If you allow analytics, Google Analytics information about how you use the website, such as pages viewed, time spent and approximate location, linked to a random identifier held in a cookie.
- If you choose to load a map or a video, the provider receives your IP address and may set its own cookies.
When you ask for a quote or get in touch
Through our quote form, by email, by phone or through LinkedIn: your name, email address, phone number, company, role, country, whether you are a farmer, project developer, buyer or partner, your farming system, the area you want measured, your SBI number, where you heard about us, your questions and how you would like us to contact you.
When you become a customer
- Contact and account details for the people we deal with, including anyone you add to the customer portal.
- Business details: business name and address, SBI number, and billing and VAT details.
- Farm and field information: field boundaries and land parcel references, cropping and management records, yields and production figures, and the other records we ask for to complete a measurement.
- Measurement results: soil sample locations and laboratory results, soil organic carbon stocks, maps and change over time, emissions calculations and uncertainty, reports and, if you choose registry services, project and credit records.
- Contract, invoice and payment records, and our correspondence with you.
- Customer portal security information: sign-in records and a scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address, held for a few minutes to stop repeated failed sign-in attempts.
Field boundaries, locations and farm results are personal information when they relate to a sole trader, a partnership or a family farm that can be identified. We protect them as personal information in every case.
Public proof pages
If a customer switches on a public proof page in the portal, anyone with its link can see the farm’s measured results, the methodology, a general region and a photo the customer chooses. The page does not show the owner’s name, the exact location, hectares, or any credit volumes, sales or prices. The customer can switch it off or replace the link at any time. We count views without recording who viewed the page.
Partners, suppliers and job applicants
We keep business contact details and correspondence for the people we work with at laboratories, registries, verification bodies, land agents, agronomists and other partners. If you apply for a job, we keep your application, our interview notes and any references you allow us to request.
Where it comes from
Mostly from you. Also from your business or someone acting for you, such as a land agent or agronomist; the laboratories that analyse your samples; public sources such as Companies House and the Rural Payments Agency’s land parcel data for your SBI number; registries and verification bodies when you choose registry services; and LinkedIn when you contact us there.
If we receive information about you from someone else, we tell you within one month, or when we first contact you if that is sooner.
We do not ask for sensitive information, such as health details or religious beliefs. Please do not send it to us.
3. How we use it and why
Data protection law only allows us to use personal information when we have a lawful basis. This table shows what we use, what for, and the basis we rely on.
| What we do | Information used | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Reply to enquiries and prepare quotes | Enquiry details | Steps you ask us to take before a contract; legitimate interests in responding to people who contact us |
| Provide the services you sign up for: sampling design, laboratory analysis, mapping, reports and the customer portal | Customer, farm and measurement information | Contract |
| Emissions reporting and registry services, if you choose them, including registration, verification and credit issuance | Farm, measurement and project records | Contract |
| Invoicing, accounting, tax and statutory record keeping | Contract, invoice and payment records | Legal obligation |
| Run and secure the website and portal, and prevent fraud and misuse | Technical, sign-in and security information | Legitimate interests in keeping our systems and your information secure |
| Count visits on our own server | Visit statistics with shortened IP addresses | Legitimate interests in understanding demand for our website |
| Understand how the website is used through Google Analytics | Google Analytics information | Consent, which you can withdraw at any time |
| Show maps and videos | IP address and the provider’s cookies | Consent |
| Tell business contacts about our services, guides and news | Name, business email address, company and role | Legitimate interests, or consent where the law requires it (see section 5) |
| Improve our sampling design, laboratory methods and mapping models, and publish findings in aggregate | Measurement data with names and precise locations removed, where your contract allows | Legitimate interests in improving the accuracy of soil carbon measurement |
| Meet legal and regulatory duties, answer lawful requests and establish or defend legal claims | Any relevant information | Legal obligation; legitimate interests |
| Recruitment | Application information | Steps before a contract; legitimate interests |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed them against your interests and rights. Ask us and we will explain that assessment.
You are not legally required to give us personal information. Some of it is needed to enter into and carry out a contract with us, and if you do not provide it we may not be able to provide the service. If we want to use your information for a new purpose, we will tell you before we start.
4. Your farm data
Your results are yours. We use your farm and measurement data to deliver your service. We do not sell it, and we do not share results that identify your farm except with the organisations in section 7 that need them to deliver the services you have chosen, or where the law requires it. If you stop working with us, you take your baseline and every measurement with you.
If you choose registry accreditation and credits, some project information is published by the registry, including on a public ledger, so that every credit can be traced. Information published on a public ledger cannot be removed later. Before anything is submitted, you can ask us exactly what will be published.
5. Marketing
We send occasional emails about our services, guides and news to people at the businesses we work with or who have asked us about our services. If your business is a sole trader or partnership, we only send marketing emails with your consent, or where you are a customer or asked us for a quote and did not opt out when we collected your details. Every marketing email lets you opt out. We never sell or rent contact lists.
To stop marketing, use the unsubscribe link in any email or email info@ecometric.co.uk. We keep a record that you opted out so we do not contact you again.
6. Cookies
We use essential cookies to run the website and the customer portal. Google Analytics, maps and videos only run if you allow them, and you can change your choice at any time. Our cookie policy lists every cookie and explains how to change your settings.
7. Who we share it with
We share personal information with service providers who handle it on our behalf under contract, and with organisations that need it to deliver services you have chosen. They must keep it secure and use it only for the agreed purpose.
| Who | What they do for us | Where information is held |
|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | Website hosting, content delivery and server security | United Kingdom |
| Microsoft (Microsoft 365 and Azure) | Email, documents and our internal staff systems | United Kingdom and European Union |
| monday.com | Our quote form, which uses Google’s location lookup, and customer relationship records | European Union |
| Twilio SendGrid | Sending automated website emails, such as customer portal invitations and sign-in links | United States |
| Xero | Invoicing and accounts | United States and other countries where Xero operates |
| Google Analytics, only with your consent; Google Maps and YouTube, only when you choose to load them; web fonts | United States and other countries where Google operates | |
| Vimeo | Video playback, only when you choose to play a video | United States |
| QGIS Cloud (Sourcepole AG) | Hosting the field maps shown in the customer portal | Switzerland |
| Content delivery services: Google Fonts, Cloudflare (cdnjs), unpkg, amCharts and OpenStreetMap | Delivering fonts, code libraries and map images. They receive your IP address when a page loads, but no cookies | United Kingdom, European Union and United States |
| Accredited soil laboratories | Analysing soil samples | United Kingdom and the countries where projects are measured |
| Regen Registry, verification bodies and ratings agencies | Registration, independent verification and rating, only when you choose registry services | United Kingdom, European Union, United States and a public ledger |
| Our professional advisers, accountants, insurers and banks | Advice, audit, insurance and payments | United Kingdom |
| Regulators, courts, police and other authorities | Only where the law requires it | United Kingdom |
| A buyer of, or investor in, our business | Only if we sell or restructure the business, under confidentiality | United Kingdom |
8. Transfers outside the UK
Some of the providers above hold or access information outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States. When that happens the transfer is protected in one of the ways UK law allows: the destination has been approved by the UK government as giving adequate protection, as the European Economic Area and Switzerland have; the recipient is certified under the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework; or we use the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses. Where we rely on a transfer agreement, you can ask us for a copy. If a legal route for a transfer stops being available, we will use another safeguard or stop the transfer.
9. How long we keep it
We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purpose we collected it for, then delete or anonymise it.
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Enquiries that do not lead to a contract | 24 months after our last contact with you |
| Customer, farm and measurement records | For as long as we provide services to you and 6 years after they end, or longer where a registry’s or verification body’s rules for an active project require it |
| Invoices, payments and accounting records | 6 years after the end of the financial year they relate to |
| Customer portal accounts | Until the account is closed; sign-in security records for a few minutes |
| Marketing contacts | Until you opt out; after that, a record of your opt-out so we respect it |
| Google Analytics information (only with consent) | No longer than 14 months |
| Visit statistics on our own server | No longer than 14 months |
| Job applications | 6 months after the role is filled, unless you agree to us keeping them longer |
10. How we protect it
The website and customer portal only use encrypted connections. Our staff systems sit behind Microsoft Entra sign-in. In the portal, each customer can see only their own farms, and we test that separation. Access to personal information is limited to the people who need it, and we use established providers with their own security controls. No system is completely secure. If a breach puts your rights at risk, we will tell you and the Information Commissioner’s Office as the law requires.
11. Your rights
Your right to object. You can object at any time to our use of your information for direct marketing, and we will stop. You can also object to any use that relies on our legitimate interests; we will stop unless we have compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, or we need the information for legal claims.
You also have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you and receive a copy.
- Correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Delete your information where we no longer have a good reason to keep it.
- Restrict how we use your information while a concern is looked into.
- Take your information with you in a commonly used electronic format, where we use it on the basis of consent or a contract.
- Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on it. This does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
To use any of these rights, email info@ecometric.co.uk. We will reply within one month. If a request is complex, we may take up to two further months and will tell you why. There is normally no charge. We may ask you to confirm your identity before we act.
12. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have used your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. Email info@ecometric.co.uk with “Data protection complaint” in the subject line. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it, and tell you the outcome without undue delay.
You also have the right to complain to the UK data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (from 30 September 2026, the Information Commission): ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, telephone 0303 123 1113, or Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
13. Automated decisions
We use statistical and machine-learning models to map soil carbon across fields from soil samples and satellite imagery. These models describe land, not people. We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
14. Children
Our website and services are for businesses and adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.
15. Changes to this notice
We review this notice at least once a year and whenever our services change. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If a change significantly affects how we use customers’ information, we will tell customers directly.
