Navigating Ethical and Legal Challenges in Smart Agriculture
S. Mayakannan, M. Saravanan, R. Arunbharathi, V. Prasanna Srinivasan, S Venkatesa Prabhu, Rakesh Kumar Maurya · 2023
Smart farming is a key factor in the exponential development of income, improved decision-making, higher quality services and goods, and increased production and profitability. There are a plethora of new ag-tech startups out there, and most of them are focused on one thing: getting data from farmers. Some farmers, especially smallholders, are left feeling hopeless since they are excluded from the benefits of information sharing and exchange. Up until recently, worries about the possible exploitation or misuse of data were generally given less weight than the need to collect more of it. However, the ethical issues of data governance are becoming increasingly vital as smart farming becomes increasingly dependent on big data (access, control, consent). Understanding data collection and usage practices, the digital gap, the importance of openness, and the importance of cultivating stakeholder confidence will all be illuminated by the answers to these ethical questions. In this chapter, we explore the perspective of agriculturists and how they can contribute to shaping a more equitable data governance framework for enhancing information flow throughout the agri-food value chain. As an illustration, authors look at the phenomenon of farmers enacting unofficial standards of conduct.