Realising the promises of agricultural big data through a Māori Data Sovereignty approach

ABSTRACT

This perspective piece considers how principles of Māori Data Sovereignty can bring us closer to realising some of the social and environmental promises of new AgTech and the agricultural big data they produce. Our analysis is situated within the settler colonial context of Aotearoa New Zealand. We consider how obligations detailed within treaties guaranteeing equal partnership and Māori self-determination provide the foundation for: (1) acknowledging how the promises of agricultural big data depend on the people, priorities, practices and power relations that guide and enact them; and (2) creating the space to question and challenge current trajectories to ensure agricultural big data are collected and used in ways that promote data sovereignty and an equitable distribution of benefits. We argue that, due to their treaty obligations, publicly-funded projects developing AgTech and agricultural big data analytics in and for Aotearoa must begin developing equity- and sovereignty-promoting data management and governance practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Agricultural big data
• agritech
• smart farming
• Māori Data Sovereignty
• settler colonialism

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Kelly Bronson and Dawn Nafus for your invaluable feedback on earlier drafts of this perspective piece.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 He Whakaputanga is the Declaration of Independence signed by a number of Māori chiefs in 1835 and Te Tiriti o Waitangi is Aotearoa New Zealand’s founding treaty signed by a majority of Māori iwi (tribes) and representatives of the British Crown in 1840.

2 The first author (Taiuru) is the current director of this institute.