The ethics of big data in big agriculture

This paper examines the ethics of big data in agriculture, focusing on the power asymmetry between farmers and large agribusinesses like Monsanto. Following the recent purchase of Climate Corp., Monsanto is currently the most prominent biotech agribusiness to buy into big data. With wireless sensors...

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Main Author: Isabelle M. Carbonell
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society 2016-03-01
Series:Internet Policy Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://policyreview.info/node/405
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author Isabelle M. Carbonell
author_facet Isabelle M. Carbonell
author_sort Isabelle M. Carbonell
collection DOAJ
description This paper examines the ethics of big data in agriculture, focusing on the power asymmetry between farmers and large agribusinesses like Monsanto. Following the recent purchase of Climate Corp., Monsanto is currently the most prominent biotech agribusiness to buy into big data. With wireless sensors on tractors monitoring or dictating every decision a farmer makes, Monsanto can now aggregate large quantities of previously proprietary farming data, enabling a privileged position with unique insights on a field-by-field basis into a third or more of the US farmland. This power asymmetry may be rebalanced through open-sourced data, and publicly-funded data analytic tools which rival Climate Corp. in complexity and innovation for use in the public domain.
format Article
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publisher Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
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spelling doaj-art-8c659094bbc84740bf14831b6aaff0e92025-08-20T03:16:04ZengAlexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and SocietyInternet Policy Review2197-67752016-03-015110.14763/2016.1.405The ethics of big data in big agricultureIsabelle M. Carbonell0University of California, Santa CruzThis paper examines the ethics of big data in agriculture, focusing on the power asymmetry between farmers and large agribusinesses like Monsanto. Following the recent purchase of Climate Corp., Monsanto is currently the most prominent biotech agribusiness to buy into big data. With wireless sensors on tractors monitoring or dictating every decision a farmer makes, Monsanto can now aggregate large quantities of previously proprietary farming data, enabling a privileged position with unique insights on a field-by-field basis into a third or more of the US farmland. This power asymmetry may be rebalanced through open-sourced data, and publicly-funded data analytic tools which rival Climate Corp. in complexity and innovation for use in the public domain.https://policyreview.info/node/405AgricultureBig dataEthicsData-driven farming
spellingShingle Isabelle M. Carbonell
The ethics of big data in big agriculture
Internet Policy Review
Agriculture
Big data
Ethics
Data-driven farming
title The ethics of big data in big agriculture
title_full The ethics of big data in big agriculture
title_fullStr The ethics of big data in big agriculture
title_full_unstemmed The ethics of big data in big agriculture
title_short The ethics of big data in big agriculture
title_sort ethics of big data in big agriculture
topic Agriculture
Big data
Ethics
Data-driven farming
url https://policyreview.info/node/405
work_keys_str_mv AT isabellemcarbonell theethicsofbigdatainbigagriculture
AT isabellemcarbonell ethicsofbigdatainbigagriculture