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ST. LOUIS, MO - Monsanto is looking to bring America's farms into the age of big data, using technology they acquired in the takeover of The Climate Corporation, a weather mapping firm previously owned by two former Google employees. This wave of innovation however has many farmers and industry leaders questioning the wisdom of integrating farms and big data, raising concerns about whether Monsanto can be trusted to be a responsible steward of this new information.  

 

It starts with FieldScripts, Monsanto's crop analysis database which pairs billions of files of data on seed types and crop yields with historical weather patterns. In much the same way a baseball team's hitting coach might look at weather conditions and a variety of statistics to give his slugger a boost at game time, FieldScripts converts Monsanto's wealth of data into highly specific recommendations on which crops a farmer should plant, in which plots of land, in order to enhance crop yields, according to the Economist. FieldScripts can even specify the exact depth and spacing requirements at which a seed should be planted in order to maximize productivity.

 

Robert Franley, one of the original developers behind Monsanto's first controversial batch of genetically modified seeds, calls FieldScripts technology “another potential transformation of the company.”

 

Monsanto is then able to load this data gathered by FieldScripts into their Precision Planting seed drills through a simple iPad app in order to ensure the proper implementation of FieldScript's highly specific recommendations.

 

So far farmers in only Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Minnesota are able to purchase access to the technology, but already those making use of Monsanto's technology testify that it has increased crop yields by roughly 5% over the previous two years. 

 

Kip Tom for example, a 58 year old farmer working out of Indiana, remarked to Wall Street Journal reporters that after testing Monsanto technology on his farm for the previous 3 years he “would not plant 1 acre without it.”

 

Not all farmers are as comfortable as Mr. Tom with the implications of Prescriptive Planting however. The American Farm Bureau Federation and many of its members worry about how to define ownership of what many farmers consider highly personal data on their livelihoods and homes.

 

As Jerry Demmer, a 61-year-old farmer in Minnesota, argues “It's our data...[but] I'm not sure how we're going to protect that.”

 

There are also concerns that Monsanto could use their FieldScripts technology as an excuse to raise seed prices as they did after the introduction of genetically modified seeds, technology which greatly contributed to the 166% inflation-adjusted price increase of seed since 2005.

 

Regardless of the controversy of the technology, Monsanto will have to work quickly to secure a hold on emerging Prescriptive Planting market however. A partnership between Du Pont and John Deer as well as the Land O'Lakes farm supply co-op are both working furiously to get their own Precision Planting technologies to market. For now all we can say is that the future of planting in America is beckoning.  

 

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for further updates on this developing story.