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Articles

The ‘terms and conditions’ of surveillance capitalism: theorizing agricultural data policy and governance

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Received 29 Apr 2024, Accepted 26 Oct 2024, Published online: 28 Nov 2024
 

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the role of farm management platforms in agricultural data governance. While positioning farmers for surveillance over their farm operations, farmers themselves are also objects of ag-tech companies’ surveillance when using corporate farm management platforms. A systematic analysis of corporate data policies reveals how farm management platforms enact surveillance capitalism in agriculture. I argue that the data policies are performing an ‘illusion of data ownership’ to protect the supremely valuable data aggregates. This study presents novel empirical and theoretical contributions in response to recent calls for attention to data governance and surveillance capitalism in agricultural contexts.

Acknowledgements

I completed this work on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. The University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm people, for whom this place has been a place to live, learn, and gather for thousands of years. In the final stages of publishing this study, I began work at the University of Ottawa, which is located on the traditional, unceded territory of the Omamìwìnini Anishnàbeg (Algonquin) communities. I am deeply grateful to be able to live, work, play, and eat on these Indigenous Lands. I received helpful feedback from Terre Satterfield, Hannah Wittman, Victor Mawutor Agbo, and Kelly Bronson for revising the manuscript. Three anonymous peer reviewers also offered helpful advice to improve the manuscript.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All documents reviewed were publicly available on the internet and accessed in January 2023. List of documents in the Appendix.

Notes

1 I define “farm management platforms” as (usually proprietary) packages of software and hardware tools designed to support farm management decisions by collecting, packaging, and visualizing data about the specific operation. Usually, there is a web-based and smartphone or tablet app integrated with diverse means of data collection on farm, such as sensors and monitors embedded in farm machinery.

2 Other relevant federal acts include the Access to Information Act (RSC, 1985, c. A-1), which governs how the Government of Canada controls, shares, and publishes information, including how citizens can access government records, and Library and Archives of Canada Act (SC 2004, c. 11), which directs storing and managing government records and information of historical or archival value. The Access to Information Act does not apply to personal information (the Privacy Act directs access to one’s own personal information), but personal information can be in the custody of the Library and Archives of Canada Act when the topic is of historical or archival interest for Canada.

3 In June 2022, the Government of Canada tabled Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act, for first reading, which proposes three new statutes: Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA), which would repeal and replace PIPEDA; the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act, to assist the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada in decision-making and enforcement; and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act to regulate the use of AI in the private sector (House of Commons of Canada Citation2022). The Government of Canada also tabled Bill C-26 in June 2022, An Act respecting cyber security, amending the Telecommunications Act and making consequential amendments to other Acts.

4 Some platforms have since updated documents.

5 The list of agricultural data (called “Ag Data” in the policy) collected by AgExpert is even longer: “Land Data. This may include soil and fertility data, topographical, elevation, watershed, and drainage data, geospatial information, and tillage and conservation data. Agronomic Data. This may include crop and field information, such as planting data, seed type, yield, disease and pest management application, fertilization, and prescriptions. Farm Management Data. This may include information related to financial, tax, employment, commodity price, regulatory compliance, supply chain, and other management data. Machine Data. This may include telematics information, machine health, fuel consumption, load, and data generated by livestock equipment. Other Farm Data. AgExpert functionality may be enhanced to allow further categories of information for farm management such as livestock data (for example: pedigree, genetic, performance, reproduction, mortality, feed and/or health information) or other categories of information relevant to your farm.” (FCC Ag Data Use Policy).

6 It is free to download apps for smartphones or tablets and make an account for all five platforms. AgExpert, Climate FieldView, and FarmCommand require users to pay ongoing subscription or service fees. Although the John Deere Operations Center is free, users pay for John Deere hardware and equipment. Corteva’s Field Guide is free to use but has limited functionality compared to the other four platforms.

7 By settler colonialism, I mean the ongoing processes of state formation on stolen land and state-sponsored conversion of stolen land to capital assets. This usually involves genocide and policies to subordinate or eradicate the peoples, knowledges, and relations Indigenous to the territories. Importantly, settler colonialism is a continually reproduced structure and not simply event from/in the past (Bruyneel Citation2020; Wolfe Citation2006).

8 I intentionally searched for evidence in the document analysis. I originally designed the study to analyze racial surveillance capitalism (e.g., Jooste Citation2021; Mirzoeff, Citation2020) in the context of farm management platforms. Because I found no explicit empirical evidence of racism or colonialism in the policies, I decided to remove this topic from the central argument of the article. Nonetheless, I believe that any study of surveillance capitalism in agriculture in settler colonial nations must acknowledge and grapple with the legacy of racism and colonialism in both technology development and agriculture. I see this as an important area for future work.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), through the Canada Graduate Scholarships—Doctoral, and the University of British Columbia’s Four Year Doctoral Fellowship.

Notes on contributors

Sarah-Louise Ruder

Sarah-Louise Ruder is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies. She completed her PhD in Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia in 2023. Her interdisciplinary research and public scholarship focus on the social, political-economic, and environmental dimensions of agri-food technologies.

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