Tech firms and AI farming tools ‘playing with the food system’, warns thinktank (www.theguardian.com)
from HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to world@lemmy.world on 04 Mar 07:01
https://sh.itjust.works/post/56252432

Tech companies and industrial agriculture are “playing with the food system” by using AI and algorithms to undermine farmers in choosing what the world eats, leading food security experts have warned.

Companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM and Alibaba are working with industrial agriculture firms to influence what crops are grown and how, according to a report by the thinktank International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).

The result, the experts say, is a “top-down” approach to farming systems where large companies tell farmers what to grow, often focusing on the most productive and profitable crops.

“Companies are playing with the food system, and we can’t afford to have that played with,” said Pat Mooney, a Canadian author and expert on agriculture who contributed to the Head in the Cloud report, adding that these companies tend to focus only on five crops: corn, rice, wheat, soya beans and potatoes.

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