The Question Every Farmer Faces
Agricultural communities are offered an ever-expanding array of digital tools — apps for weather, platforms for selling, systems for record-keeping. Each promises to improve efficiency, increase yields, or connect farmers to markets.
But behind these promises lie deeper questions that are rarely asked at the point of adoption:
- Who owns the data I put into this system?
- Can I leave if I want to, or am I locked in?
- Who benefits from the knowledge I contribute?
- What happens to this tool if the company fails or changes direction?
The Ethical Technology Assessment framework exists to help communities answer these questions before adoption, not after.
What is Commons-Enabling Infrastructure?
Commons-Enabling Infrastructure (CEI) refers to digital systems designed to support—rather than extract from—the communities that use them. It's the difference between a platform that treats farmers as data sources and one that treats them as stakeholders.
CEI Characteristics
- Data sovereignty — users control their information
- Interoperability — works with other systems
- Transparency — clear about how it works
- Accountable governance — community voice
- Reciprocity — value flows back to contributors
Extraction Patterns
- Data captured, sold to third parties
- Lock-in through proprietary formats
- Black-box algorithms
- Unilateral terms changes
- Value captured by distant shareholders
The ETA Framework
Entry Gates (Pass/Fail)
Every tool must pass these four gates before scored assessment:
Is basic functionality publicly documented?
Do users retain meaningful control over their data?
Free from surveillance, manipulation, or abuse potential?
Responsible entity with clear accountability?
Scored Dimensions (0-25 points each)
Consent mechanisms, privacy protections, data minimization, algorithmic transparency
Open APIs, standard data formats, export capabilities, integration options
License terms, governance model, community contribution pathways, knowledge sharing
Languages, bandwidth requirements, offline capability, device compatibility, cost
Confidence Tiers
The Communities Behind ETA
OpenTEAM
The Open Technology Ecosystem for Agricultural Management is a coalition of farmers, researchers, technology developers, and agricultural organizations working to ensure that technology serves rather than exploits agricultural communities. OpenTEAM maintains the FAIR Tech Registry and coordinates the development of commons-enabling tools.
Farm Hack
A worldwide community of farmers that build and modify tools, share knowledge, and develop open-source solutions. Farm Hack brings practical, on-the-ground perspective to technology assessment — asking not just "does it work?" but "does it work for farmers?"
GIAA
The Grassroots Innovation Assembly for Agroecology brings together farmer innovators, community technologists, and food sovereignty advocates. GIAA ensures that ETA assessments center the needs and values of smallholder farmers and indigenous communities.