Some farmers nervous about 'green data' revolution

AP/Houston Chronicle:

Farmers from across the nation gathered in Washington this month for what has become an annual trek to seek action on the most important matters in American agriculture, such as immigration reform and water regulations.

But this time, a new, more shadowy issue also emerged: growing unease about how the largest seed companies are gathering vast amount of data from sensors on tractors, combines and other farm equipment.

The increasingly common sensors measure soil conditions, seeding rates, crop yields and many other variables, allowing companies to provide farmers with customized guidance on how to get the most out of their fields.
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Farmers worry that a hedge fund or large company with access to "real-time" yield data from hundreds of combines at harvest time might be able to use that information to speculate in commodities markets long before the government issues crop-production estimates.

Others are concerned that GPS-linked farm data could be obtained by the Environmental Protection Agency, antagonistic environmental groups or, in the Farm Bureau's words, "an overall-clad Edward Snowden," a reference to the former National Security Agency analyst who disclosed intelligence-gathering operations.
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This season, growers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota can even buy for the first time a Monsanto "prescription" that offers a precise seeding recipe tailored to their soil type, disease history and pests.

The St. Louis-based company, which has dominated the bioengineered seed business for more than a decade, expects to expand its prescription services to other states. It calls the advancements the "Green Data Revolution" — a play off the so-called Green Revolution of the 20th century in which mechanical, chemical and biological advancements drove unprecedented increases in food production.

Monsanto expects the use of ag data to offer comparable improvements in the next few years. It bought Precision Planting, a high-tech farm equipment maker, in 2012, followed last October by the purchase of the Climate Corporation, a data-analytics firm that provides weather-related farm services and crop insurance and is handling Monsanto's fledgling data-related services.

The Green Data Revolution will help farmers make more profit per acre, said Dave Friedberg, chief executive officer of The Climate Corporation. The average farmer, he says, won't have to be "tech savvy."

"Tech will just become integral to the work that they do ... in the same way that more than 100 years ago, we adopted machine-based farming equipment as the standard in the industry," Friedberg said.
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I think the big issue will be the use of insider information by hedge funds and commodity traders.  But farm pricing is a series of manipulations by the government to support prices and this is likely to contribute to the manipulation.  The up side is that it should increase yields for the farmers which should eventually benefit consumers in the long run.  It hink the more data the better at this point.