Samuel Rosado and Soledad Vogliano - ETC Group
This case study is part of a research collaboration between ETC Group and IT for Change, and supported by the Center for Global Digital Justice.
Abstract
This case study examines the rise of digitalized, data-dependent agriculture, focusing on Bayer’s Climate FieldView as a paradigmatic example of how agribusiness and technology corporations are reshaping food systems. The study maps the agricultural data pipeline—from data generation on farms to its storage, processing, and monetization—showing how each stage is embedded in corporate-controlled infrastructures and contractual regimes. Through this pipeline, farmers’ practices, environments, and knowledge are translated into proprietary data streams, reinforcing platform lock-in, algorithmic governance, and financialization.
FieldView illustrates how digital agriculture functions not only as a technical toolkit but as an institutional form of governance, embedding seed, chemical, and data services into closed ecosystems. By partnering with cloud providers like Microsoft, Bayer integrates farm-level data into global infrastructures that serve speculative finance, ESG schemes, and carbon markets, often sidelining farmer autonomy, cultural practices, and ecological sustainability. The report situates these developments within broader processes of data colonialism and technological convergence between Big Ag and Big Tech.
From a rights-based perspective, the study identifies risks to food sovereignty, cultural rights, labor, health, and the environment. It argues that prevailing models of “ownership” and voluntary governance are insufficient, as they obscure issues of control, accountability, and justice. Instead, it calls for structural data justice approaches, including collective data rights, public oversight of digital infrastructures, and community-centered governance frameworks to counter corporate capture.
