The companies leading this charge are global, not just US-based.
It’s a mistake to try to pin this on one country.
Agribusiness companies are deploying digital on farms everywhere in the world in a very clear effort to gather data on all aspects of farming: soil health, labor, weather, inputs, etc, and specifically including genetics on the world’s most critical crop seeds and livestock. They are quietly vacuuming up and locking up the knowledge of farmers.
All the data then gets to be owned and controlled by corporations, analyzed with AI and proprietary algorithms, and then sold back to farmers with “prescriptions” for how to farm and which products to buy. This all happens with very little transparency or explanation.
The massively hyper-consolidated food and agriculture systems is a massive issue and I don’t think people realize just how extensive it’s become in just the last 5-10 years.
But to call it a “US sickness” denies the very global nature of the companies doing the work. It’s not US specific unfortunately, though certain there is plenty of US company involvement.
Reminds me of how Egypt was THE breadbasket for centuries by means of it's strong administative system. But when the bureuacracy came apart, the system collapsed more completely than expected, because farmers had been totally dependent on the the administration for all decisions, let alone logistics.
Of course I may be misremembering, anyone have a citation?
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Ginkgo Bioworks. Syngenta. Bayer. Recombinetics. Heck, JoynBio.
The companies leading this charge are global, not just US-based.
It’s a mistake to try to pin this on one country.
Agribusiness companies are deploying digital on farms everywhere in the world in a very clear effort to gather data on all aspects of farming: soil health, labor, weather, inputs, etc, and specifically including genetics on the world’s most critical crop seeds and livestock. They are quietly vacuuming up and locking up the knowledge of farmers.
All the data then gets to be owned and controlled by corporations, analyzed with AI and proprietary algorithms, and then sold back to farmers with “prescriptions” for how to farm and which products to buy. This all happens with very little transparency or explanation.
The massively hyper-consolidated food and agriculture systems is a massive issue and I don’t think people realize just how extensive it’s become in just the last 5-10 years.
But to call it a “US sickness” denies the very global nature of the companies doing the work. It’s not US specific unfortunately, though certain there is plenty of US company involvement.
Reminds me of how Egypt was THE breadbasket for centuries by means of it's strong administative system. But when the bureuacracy came apart, the system collapsed more completely than expected, because farmers had been totally dependent on the the administration for all decisions, let alone logistics.
Of course I may be misremembering, anyone have a citation?
I think they had some trouble with God and got smited with all sorts of plagues and stuff[0].
[0] Bible.