Paper short abstract:

Big data has become central to the business model for agricultural companies. We analyze how is agricultural data transformed into value by the most powerful agribusinesses and ag tech firms?

Paper long abstract:

The global food system is characterized by market concentration and oligopoly. In our paper 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. That big data also has become central to the business model for agricultural companies is irrefutable; 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 historic 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.