Big Tech corporations and Big Ag firms are forming powerful alliances which are rapidly giving them control of farming under the guise of innovation. Cloud platforms and AI-driven decision tools are being integrated into all parts of industrial agriculture, from seeds to chemical inputs to machinery. This is shaping what technologies receive R&D, how decisions are made in food production, and even what the future of farming might look like.
In a recent report from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food Citation2026), the use of the concept of “innovation” in agriculture is explored from contrasting perspectives. The term seems to have become a buzzword for bringing AI, precision agriculture, bioengineering, and automation into agricultural production when we know agriculture is more than producing food. As detailed in the report, agricultural innovations are shaped by specific social, ecological, economic, and political systems, and generally reproduce the paradigms in which they were developed, be they consolidated or inclusive, corporate controlled or farmer-driven. Examining what are considered to be innovations in food systems requires a systems approach, as has been proposed for a long time by agroecologists who work with those who have been the primary innovators for generations – farmers themselves.
The report asks the following questions: what counts as innovative, whose knowledge matters, which solutions are considered appropriate, and who should benefit from innovations? In reality, the responses are political choices. Big Tech corporations and Big Ag firms are forming powerful alliances which are rapidly giving them control of farming under the guise of innovation. Cloud platforms and AI-driven decision tools are being integrated into all parts of industrial agriculture, from seeds to chemical inputs to machinery. This is shaping what technologies receive R&D, how decisions are made in food production, and even what the future of farming might look like.