Privacy Policy
How we collect, use, and protect your personal data — and the rights you have under the GDPR.
This policy explains how Farm Tech Society ("FTS", "we", "us") processes personal data when you visit farmtechsociety.org, contact us, sign up for our newsletter, or become a member. We act as the data controller for this processing under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Belgian data-protection law.
1. Who we are
The controller responsible for your personal data is:
Farm Tech Society ASBL
Place du Champs de Mars 5
1050 Ixelles, Belgium
Email: contact@farmtechsociety.org
For any privacy-related request, contact us at the address above. We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer; privacy matters are handled by the FTS team.
2. What personal data we collect, and why
We only collect what we need, and each use has a lawful basis under Article 6 GDPR:
| What | Why | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Contact & "Get in touch" forms name, email, phone (optional), your message, role/interest | To respond to your enquiry and follow up about membership or partnership. | Our legitimate interest in answering you, and steps taken at your request before any agreement (Art. 6(1)(b)/(f)). |
| Newsletter signup email (and name, if given) | To send you news and updates about FTS and the CEA sector. | Your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) — you can unsubscribe at any time. |
| Membership account & payments account details, membership tier, billing & payment records | To create your account, provide membership, and process payments. | Performance of our contract with you (Art. 6(1)(b)) and our legal accounting obligations (Art. 6(1)(c)). |
| Security & anti-spam IP address, request metadata, anti-bot tokens | To protect our forms and site from spam and abuse, and rate-limit submissions. | Our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure (Art. 6(1)(f)). |
| Analytics pages viewed, approximate location, device/browser | To understand how the site is used and improve it. | Our legitimate interest in measuring and improving the site (Art. 6(1)(f)) — you can opt out (see section 3). |
| Live chat the messages and contact details you share in chat | To answer questions you raise through the chat widget. | Our legitimate interest in supporting visitors (Art. 6(1)(f)). |
| Appointment booking name, email, and the time slot you choose | To schedule a call when you open the "Book a call" widget, which loads Google Calendar. The widget loads only after you click it, and the booking details you enter go to Google. | Steps taken at your request before any agreement, and our legitimate interest in arranging the call (Art. 6(1)(b)/(f)). |
When you submit a contact, lead, or newsletter form, the details are emailed to our team and added to our customer-relationship system so we can manage the conversation. We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling.
3. Cookies and similar technologies
We use a small number of cookies and similar storage:
- Strictly necessary — sign-in/session cookies for members, and anti-spam tokens (including Cloudflare Turnstile) that protect our forms. These are required for the site to work and do not need your consent.
- Analytics (Google Analytics) — set to measure how the site is used so we can improve it. You can opt out using Google's opt-out browser add-on, or by blocking cookies in your browser.
- Live chat (Crisp) — set when the chat widget loads so a conversation can continue across pages.
- Appointment booking (Google Calendar) — the booking widget is only loaded once you click "Book a call". At that point Google may set cookies needed to show the booking page and complete your booking. Nothing from Google loads until you open it.
You can block or delete any of these cookies through your browser settings, and use the opt-out above for analytics. Blocking strictly-necessary cookies may stop parts of the site from working.
4. Who we share your data with
We never sell your data. We share it only with service providers ("processors") who handle it on our behalf, under contract and only for the purposes above:
- Folk — our customer-relationship (CRM) system, where form submissions and newsletter signups are stored.
- Resend — delivers our transactional and notification emails.
- Stripe — processes membership payments. Your card details go directly to Stripe; we never see or store them.
- Google (Google Analytics) — provides website analytics, where consented.
- Google (Google Calendar) — powers the "Book a call" appointment-booking widget, loaded only when you open it; the booking details you enter are handled by Google.
- Crisp — powers the live-chat widget, where consented.
- Cloudflare — provides the Turnstile anti-spam check on our forms.
- Hetzner — our hosting provider, operates the servers that run this site (located in the European Union, in Germany).
- If you sign in with Google or LinkedIn, that provider confirms your identity to us.
We may also disclose data where required by law, or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
5. International transfers
Some of our providers (for example Google, Stripe, and Cloudflare) may process data outside the European Economic Area, including in the United States. Where that happens, the transfer is protected by appropriate safeguards — such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and, where applicable, the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
6. How long we keep your data
- Contact & lead enquiries: kept while we are in contact and for a reasonable period afterwards, then deleted on request or when no longer needed.
- Newsletter: until you unsubscribe.
- Membership & billing records: for the duration of your membership and, for invoicing/accounting records, for 7 years as required by Belgian law.
- Security/anti-spam logs: a short period, then deleted or anonymised.
7. Your rights
Under the GDPR, you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you;
- have inaccurate data corrected;
- have your data erased ("right to be forgotten");
- restrict or object to certain processing;
- receive your data in a portable format;
- withdraw consent at any time, without affecting prior processing.
To exercise any of these, email contact@farmtechsociety.org. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority (Autorité de protection des données / Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit), Rue de la Presse 35, 1000 Brussels — dataprotectionauthority.be.
8. How we protect your data
We use encryption in transit (HTTPS), access controls, anti-spam protection, and reputable processors to keep your data secure. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect it.
9. Children
Our site and services are intended for professionals and are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top shows when it last changed; significant changes will be highlighted on the site.
11. Contact us
Questions about this policy or your data? Email contact@farmtechsociety.org or write to us at the address in section 1.