This article extends social science research on big data and data platforms through a focus on agriculture, which has received relatively less attention than other sectors like health. In this paper, I use a responsible innovation framework to move attention to the social and ethical dimensions of big data “upstream,” to decision-making in the very selection of agricultural data and the building of its infrastructures. I draw on original empirical material from qualitative interviews with North American designers and engineers to make visible and analyze the normative aspects of their technical decisions. Social actors shaping innovation hold a narrow set of values about good farming and good technology and their data selection choices privilege large-scale and commodity crop farmers by focusing on agronomic crop data and data mapping unusable to organic growers. Enabling engagement among a wide variety of food system actors, not just already powerful ones, and attending to a greater diversity of values would be essential to underpin a responsible digital agricultural transition.

本文通过关注农业扩展了对大数据和数据平台的社会科学研究，与农业等其他部门相比，农业受到的关注相对较少。在本文中，我使用了一个负责任的创新框架，将注意力转移到大数据“上游”的社会和道德层面，转向选择农业数据及其基础设施的决策。我从与北美设计师和工程师进行的定性访谈中汲取了原始的经验材料，以使他们能够看到并分析其技术决策的规范方面。塑造创新的社会参与者对于良好的耕作和良好的技术持有狭窄的价值观，他们的数据选择选择通过关注农作物农作物数据和有机农户无法使用的数据映射，使大型和商品作物农民享有特权。促使各种粮食系统行动者（不仅仅是已经强大的行动者）参与进来，并实现更大的价值多样性，对于支持负责任的数字农业转型至关重要。