Data Going to the Rural Areas: A New Trend in the Era of Agriculture 4.0

Data going to the rural areas has emerged as a new trend in the era of Agriculture 4.0. In contrast to the traditional capital going to the rural areas, this phenomenon differs significantly in terms of the form of core elements, driving mechanisms, value creation models, and the specific segments of the agricultural industrial chain it engages. Proponents of formalist theory characterize it as the outcome of “rational choice” and “equivalent exchange” between rural-investing enterprises and farmers, maintaining that data property rights should belong to the enterprises that develop and utilize the data. In reality, this perspective uses the facade of “equivalent exchange” to obscure the separation of farmers (as producers) from data (as a means of production), as well as the process of “data capitalization” driven by the trend of data going to the rural areas. In contrast, a competing explanatory framework suggests that data going to the rural areas has created a new form of uncompensated appropriation of smallholder farmers’ data resources, one that differs fundamentally from the traditional influx of commercial and industrial capital into rural areas. Furthermore, against the backdrop of growing stratification among farmers, a “dual exclusion structure” has materialized. This structure is driven by the deliberate exclusionary practices of rural-investing agri-data enterprises and the objective lack of digital capabilities among smallholder farmers. As a result, smallholder farmers face escalating marginalization and severely constrained access to incremental profits. To mitigate these challenges, it is recommended to establish a data governance mechanism aligned with the collective rationality of smallholder farmer communities. By organizing community-anchored data cooperatives, smallholder farmers can dismantle their dependency on external data enterprises, thereby securing discourse power over technology and reclaiming their dominant role in agricultural production.