Digital agriculture promises greater efficiency through artificial intelligence (AI), precision farming, automated machinery and data-driven decision-making. Yet behind these technologies lie questions about who controls agricultural data, who benefits from digital innovation and what environmental and social costs it entails. Drawing on the report Head in the Cloud: Challenging the False Promise of Digital Agriculture and Cultivating Innovation from the Ground Up, the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) examines how corporate-led digitalisation is reshaping food systems and potentially limiting farmers’ autonomy.

The analysis highlights the growing concentration of power among agribusinesses and major technology companies, whose platforms increasingly control data, software and digital infrastructure. Subscription-based services, proprietary systems and restricted access to machinery repairs can increase farmers’ dependence on corporate providers. The resource also draws attention to the material and social foundations of digital technologies, including data centres’ substantial energy and water requirements, the extraction of critical minerals in the Global South, and the often precarious conditions of workers involved in training AI systems. These concerns raise questions about the sustainability, equity and accountability of prevailing digital agriculture models.

Rather than rejecting digital tools outright, the authors call for a broader debate about the agricultural systems and social priorities these technologies should serve. They emphasize the importance of participatory approaches that involve farmers, Indigenous Peoples, miners, researchers and civil society in shaping digital innovation. Examples of open-source tools, community-based initiatives and collective mobilization, including the Earthkeepers vs AI empires gathering in Zambia, illustrate alternative ways to engage with technological change. The resource invites readers to consider how digital agriculture could better support local knowledge, farmer autonomy, environmental sustainability and more equitable food systems.