In what amounts to a revolt against the data-gathering initiatives of companies like Monsanto and DuPont, farmers are increasingly using sensors and other technology to gather their own data from their fields–and either crunching it themselves, selling it to aggregators and other ag-industry players, or both, reports the Wall Street Journal. Privacy concerns and the threat of companies using the data to charge more for seeds and chemicals are prompting a move toward farmer-owned data-collection systems.
The prevalence of relatively cheap sensors and data-transmission devices has energized a host of entrepreneurs. They hope to convince farmers that if there is money to be made selling their farm data, then farmers themselves should get some of it. The founder of one startup venture, Farmobile, told the Journal, “We’re monetizing something [farmers] hadn’t monetized before.”
There is real money at stake. The Journal says Monsanto has spent more than $1 billion in recent years to enhance its data-collection efforts, and that DuPont expects to get as much as “$500 million a year in revenue from computerized farming services.”
But some farmers and entrepreneurs “say crop producers can get the most from their data by compiling and analyzing it themselves—for instance, to determine the best time to apply fertilizer to their soil and how much. Then, farmers could profit further by selling data to seed, pesticide and equipment makers seeking a glimpse into how and when farmers use machinery and crop supplies.”
What isn’t clear is who owns the data in situations where the farmer is renting the land, the farmer or the landowner? New data from the USDA’s Census of Agriculture shows that of the 353.8 million acres that were rented and farmed, 80 percent were owned by non-farming landlords. The American Farm Bureau Federation believes the farmer should control the data, but also says it is the farmer’s responsibility to enter into an agreement with the landowner.