• Home
  • About Off The Grid
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
Monday, June 16, 2025
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
Off The Grid News
Home Privacy

Monsanto Buying Of Massive Farm Data Has Farmers Nervous

by Tara Dodrill
in Privacy
Print Print
monsanto data farmers

Image source: RT.com

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on TruthEmail Article
monsanto data farmers
Image source: RT.com

Monsanto, one of the largest biotech companies in the world, is reportedly paying large sums of money to garner massive amounts of data about farms. The agricultural industry data mining is part of a “Smart Farms” effort which could soon change the face of crop generation in the United States.

While some support the efforts by Monsanto and competitors like DuPont, Bayer, and Sygenta, others are extremely concerned about where all the information collected will wind up and how smart farming could impact grower control over health and safety issues.

The American Farm Bureau Federation recently published a potential risks outline relating to the data mining in the agricultural industry and on farm tools.

In October Monsanto spent nearly $1 billion to purchase the Climate Corporation, a data analysis firm. In 2012 the biotech giant also bought Precision Planting, a “high tech” agricultural firm, and initiated a venture capital arm of the company in order to offer funding to tech start-ups, according to Salon.

Monsanto has not issued a public statement about the “ownership” of the raw data collected from farmers and whether or not the information will be maintained in a non-proprietary format, Salon reported. Some farmers and organizations which represent the industry are worried that biotech giants like Monsanto will “harness the data” for the purpose of price discrimination. In such a scenario, the company could charge some farmers more for the same product or service. If such a circumstance materializes, a company could easily and quickly determine the economic value the farmers accrues and vary prices more specifically by region or even by community. Monsanto reportedly determines product price on a regional basis, Illinois farmers could pay more for seeds than a Texas farmer who is facing a drought, for example.

New Survival Seed Bank™ Lets You Plant A Full Acre Crisis Garden!

Kyle Cline, policy advisor for national government relations at the Indiana Farm Bureau, said:

If this real time yield data goes into the cloud and a lot of market investors get into it, there is potential for market distortion. It could destabilize markets, make them more volatile.

Kansas Farm Bureau Director of Commodities Mark Nelson is concerned that farmers’ data could be misused and that agricultural business owners are “signing up for things” without realizing what is being given up. John Deere is also getting in on the data mining. A company representative attempted to assure the public that farmers will still “own their data” and have the chance to opt-out of the cloud services initiated by the popular agricultural equipment manufacturer. John Deere has admitted that its financial department “may consult” data about farm machinery, but only if the farmer permits the information collection.

Said Mark Cox Grower, communications director for the Grower Information Services Cooperative:

Growers need to be proactive in how their information is managed. Otherwise all that economic power will consolidate to these corporations and the grower will be at even more of a disadvantage. We don’t want the grower to become a tenant on his own farm.

Those opposed to smart farming and data mining by companies also fear that private information about crop yields and soil fertility, which some consider trade secrets, would be used for pricing purposes and decrease a natural competitive edge.

“If you inadvertently teach Monsanto what it is that makes you a better farmer than your neighbor, it can sell that information to your neighbor,” John McGuire of Simplified Technology Services, who once developed geospatial tools for Monsanto, told Salon.

How do you feel about smart farming?

Sign up for Off The Grid News’ weekly email and stay informed about the issues important to you

ShareTweetShareSend

Related Posts

Neuralink’s Dangerous New Trademark Filings

Neuralink’s Dangerous New Trademark Filings

by Bill Heid

The Dark Side of Neural Implants… Power… Privacy… and Control? From an observer’s standpoint, Neuralink’s newly filed trademarks signal an...

When Powerful Machines Are Watching: Privacy Threats and Your Best Defenses in an Automated World

When Powerful Machines Are Watching: Privacy Threats and Your Best Defenses in an Automated World

by Bill Heid

Between Innovation and Intrusion: Safeguarding Privacy in the Age of AI Artificial intelligence is evolving at a breathtaking pace, revolutionizing...

Unraveling the Chemical Complexity of Pine Needles

Safeguarding Your Children’s Privacy in a “Connected” Christmas

by Bill Heid

Are your child’s experiences being sent to massive data centers? Increasingly, these special surprises include advanced technology… toys that respond...

Next Post
smart meter illinois mandatory fines

Get A Smart Meter Or Else, Power Companies Telling Customers

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

charlie fink hospital nursing home

State Forces Man Into Nursing Home

krav maga civil unrest self-defense

Why Krav Maga May Be Your Best Defense Even If You Own A Gun

How To Dehydrate & Store Food pt 2 of 8 ~ as seen on YouTube

TRENDING STORIES

  • bubonic plague

    Is Another Bubonic Plague Pandemic On The Horizon?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Waco Fertilizer Plant Explosion & A Look Back On The “Waco Massacre”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Make Yourself 3 Times More Likely To Survive A Heart Attack

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • AI Surveillance Of Shoppers: Walmart’s Newest Tool To Grab Your Data

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Apocalyptic’ Microchip Implants Are Here – And Being Inserted Into People’s Hands

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Subscribe to our Insider Newsletter

Huge discounts on off-the-grid gear and life saving supplements.






‘Off The Grid News’ is an independent, weekly email newsletter and website that is crammed full of practical information on living and surviving off the grid. Advice you’ll never hear from the mainstream media.

  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Extreme Survival
  • Survival Gardening
  • Off-Grid Foods
  • Worldview
  • Natural Health
  • Survival Hunting
  • Privacy
  • Financial
  • Current Events
  • Self Defense
  • Home Defense
  • Pain-Free Living
  • Miscellaneous
  • Off Grid Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy   Terms & Conditions
No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
  • Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.