Google, Microsoft, Amazon and other tech giants are 'playing with the food system' by using artificial intelligence and algorithms to influence what crops are grown and how, according to a report by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). The thinktank warns that this top-down approach undermines farmers' autonomy and prioritises profitable crops over local biodiversity.
Pat Mooney, a Canadian agriculture expert who contributed to the report, said these companies focus on just five crops: corn, rice, wheat, soya beans and potatoes. He warned that farmers risk being locked into a globalised system where they are forced to buy seeds, machinery and chemical inputs from industrial suppliers, rather than growing locally adapted varieties.
The report highlights that digital farming tools are often portrayed as innovative, attracting policymakers and investors. The market for such tools was worth $30bn last year and is projected to reach $84bn by 2034. The World Bank has financed $1.15bn in loans for digital agriculture, and the EU has spent €200m on related research.
Lim Li Ching, co-chair of IPES-Food, argued that 'farming by algorithm' is not what farmers want. She called for a bottom-up approach that supports farmers as stewards of agricultural biodiversity, citing examples in Peru, China and Tanzania where communities are preserving crop varieties and using social media for local knowledge exchange.
Mooney added that the global food system is already vulnerable to shocks like climate change and the war in Ukraine. 'Don't lock yourself into a global system which is broken and can't be repaired,' he said, urging policymakers to fund research that empowers local farming communities.
