Harvesting value: Corporate strategies of data assetization in agriculture and their socio-ecological implications
The global food system is characterized by market concentration and oligopoly. In our article, we focus on the most powerful input supply and machinery companies and analyze how these firms create value, both economic and otherwise, from big data. In digital capitalism, data is valorized across sect...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Big Data & Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517241234279 |
| _version_ | 1797295101437804544 |
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| author | Sarah Hackfort Sarah Marquis Kelly Bronson |
| author_facet | Sarah Hackfort Sarah Marquis Kelly Bronson |
| author_sort | Sarah Hackfort |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The global food system is characterized by market concentration and oligopoly. In our article, we focus on the most powerful input supply and machinery companies and analyze how these firms create value, both economic and otherwise, from big data. In digital capitalism, data is valorized across sectors; personal data is aggregated into large-scale datasets, a practice that feeds economic concentration and monopolization. Big data also has become central to the business model for agricultural companies; it is a claim made by the companies themselves. Yet, little is known about their specific strategies to do so. We aim to fill this gap, asking how is agricultural data transformed into value by the most powerful agribusinesses and ag-tech firms ? Through the lens of assetization, we examine corporate strategies for transforming agricultural data into value. We draw on literature from food studies, specifically political economic analyses of the historical practices of agricultural corporations, as well as literature from critical data studies that investigates data as an asset. For our analysis, we rely on a variety of gray literature and public-facing documents: financial documents, sustainability and shareholder reports, terms of use, license agreements, and news articles. Our results contribute to the critical data studies literature on agricultural big data by identifying three main strategies of assetization: securing relationships and dependence, price-setting and data sharing, and product development and targeted marketing. The strategies have socio-ecological implications; our results indicate the reproduction of asymmetrical power relations in the agri-food system favoring corporations and the continuation of long-standing dynamics of inequalities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:41:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b9c68802b7724783a851db2054357cc0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2053-9517 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:41:53Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Big Data & Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-b9c68802b7724783a851db2054357cc02024-02-26T09:03:41ZengSAGE PublishingBig Data & Society2053-95172024-03-011110.1177/20539517241234279Harvesting value: Corporate strategies of data assetization in agriculture and their socio-ecological implicationsSarah Hackfort0Sarah Marquis1Kelly Bronson2 Agricultural and Food Policy Group, , Berlin, Germany Institute of the Environment, , Ottawa, Canada , Ottawa, CanadaThe global food system is characterized by market concentration and oligopoly. In our article, we focus on the most powerful input supply and machinery companies and analyze how these firms create value, both economic and otherwise, from big data. In digital capitalism, data is valorized across sectors; personal data is aggregated into large-scale datasets, a practice that feeds economic concentration and monopolization. Big data also has become central to the business model for agricultural companies; it is a claim made by the companies themselves. Yet, little is known about their specific strategies to do so. We aim to fill this gap, asking how is agricultural data transformed into value by the most powerful agribusinesses and ag-tech firms ? Through the lens of assetization, we examine corporate strategies for transforming agricultural data into value. We draw on literature from food studies, specifically political economic analyses of the historical practices of agricultural corporations, as well as literature from critical data studies that investigates data as an asset. For our analysis, we rely on a variety of gray literature and public-facing documents: financial documents, sustainability and shareholder reports, terms of use, license agreements, and news articles. Our results contribute to the critical data studies literature on agricultural big data by identifying three main strategies of assetization: securing relationships and dependence, price-setting and data sharing, and product development and targeted marketing. The strategies have socio-ecological implications; our results indicate the reproduction of asymmetrical power relations in the agri-food system favoring corporations and the continuation of long-standing dynamics of inequalities.https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517241234279 |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Hackfort Sarah Marquis Kelly Bronson Harvesting value: Corporate strategies of data assetization in agriculture and their socio-ecological implications Big Data & Society |
| title | Harvesting value: Corporate strategies of data assetization in agriculture and their socio-ecological implications |
| title_full | Harvesting value: Corporate strategies of data assetization in agriculture and their socio-ecological implications |
| title_fullStr | Harvesting value: Corporate strategies of data assetization in agriculture and their socio-ecological implications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Harvesting value: Corporate strategies of data assetization in agriculture and their socio-ecological implications |
| title_short | Harvesting value: Corporate strategies of data assetization in agriculture and their socio-ecological implications |
| title_sort | harvesting value corporate strategies of data assetization in agriculture and their socio ecological implications |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517241234279 |
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