Big Data in food and agriculture

TLDR

Agriculture is experiencing a digital revolution, raising questions about data ownership by companies such as Monsanto and privacy implications of precision equipment from John Deere. The study aims to systematically trace the digital revolution in agriculture, chart Big Data affordances and limitations, and link data scholarship with food studies to examine material consequences. The review identified multiple Big Data tools that could shift power dynamics between farmers and large corporations. The abstract contains a placeholder for an app.

Abstract

Farming is undergoing a digital revolution. Our existing review of current Big Data applications in the agri-food sector has revealed several collection and analytics tools that may have implications for relationships of power between players in the food system (e.g. between farmers and large corporations). For example, Who retains ownership of the data generated by applications like Monsanto Corproation's Weed I.D. “app”? Are there privacy implications with the data gathered by John Deere's precision agricultural equipment? Systematically tracing the digital revolution in agriculture, and charting the affordances as well as the limitations of Big Data applied to food and agriculture, should be a broad research goal for Big Data scholarship. Such a goal brings data scholarship into conversation with food studies and it allows for a focus on the material consequences of big data in society.