Power Contestations in the Use of Agri-food Data: Towards a Sustainability Governance Approach

Abstract

Law is intrinsically embedded in politics. Prevailing dynamics and norms can significantly impact new legal rules; hence, there is a need to interrogate the spectrum of engagements of any given subject or phenomenon with the law. In the context of global governance of food and agricultural data, this article examines how power manifests in the generation and use of agri-food data, how power could construct global rules on the use of agri-food data and how the global community should respond to this realisation. It highlights the politics of technology and data and examines how these drive inequalities and inequities among certain actors and groups, taking the ensuing intersectional dynamics into account. These insights make important contributions to the debate on the global governance of food and agricultural data by shedding light on the analytical framework that can be used to recognise the unequal political economy within which the global governance of agri-food data is negotiated. It offers justifications on why and how such an opportunity should be used to correct these imbalances and redistribute the benefits of agri-food data to all stakeholders.