Agricultural data governance from the ground up: Exploring data justice with agri-food movements

Farmers and agri-food movements are responding to rapidly changing trends related to digitalization and datafication in agriculture. However, there is a lack of consensus on the potential of common ‘best practices’ to resolve agricultural data governance challenges and achieve data justice. To explore these complex dynamics, we present analysis from 40 workshops, conferences, and community dialogue events related to digital agricultural technologies and data governance between 2020 and 2023, involving the participation of farmers, farming organizations, government policy and programs staff, civil society, and academic researchers. We use a data justice lens to reorient the treatment of data governance challenges and approaches. We apply multiple dimensions of justice to examine the power relations and capabilities of diverse agri-food system actors to navigate the changing landscape of agricultural datafication. We find that many common practices in agricultural data governance have fundamental limitations to achieving data justice. Overcoming these limitations will require structural change, including new laws and regulatory frameworks, novel governance structures, capacity building, and solidarity across movements.