big data

Start-up companies such as FarmLogs and 640 Labs are in the hunt for customers along with agribusiness giants Deere, Pioneer and Monsanto in the new agricultural field of Big Data, says Reuters.

Chicago's public health department "is experimenting with a new technology to guide where (restaurant) inspections should occur, based on factors such as current weather, nearby construction and past health code violations," says the Washington Post in an article on applying so-called Big Data to food safety. New York City's health department "is testing software that scans online reviews...flagging mentions of potential food-poisoning events."

If Big Data was the topic du jour of the spring, drones are the buzz this summer. There have been regional sessions about them and the upcoming Dakotafest ag show will hold a day's worth of workshops on drones on Aug 20.

The big questions for the emerging Big Data era in agriculture will be resolved in the next couple of years, a panel of experts said on Tuesday, although none suggested the likely results.

Farm groups, seed companies and equipment manufacturers met in Kansas City to discuss common rules for gathering, use and ownership of Big Data without reaching a conclusion, says Reuters.

In FERN's latest story, produced with Switchyard Magazine, reporter Mya Frazier explores the damage—physical, economic, and emotional—done to Ohio's rural communities by the explosion of data centers and the electricity generation needed to power those centers.