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Canada’s mPowered helping agriculture industry monetize data

Tony Zerucha



A group of Canadian data evangelists have staked their ground in the global movement to democratize data with the launch of mPowered, a new distributed ledger technology that will help people control access to and profit from their own data.

mPowered is a blockchain-based ecosystem that facilitates and incentivizes data sharing on a cryptographically secure, transparent and tamper-proof platform. It was created by a group of leading software engineers and machine learning specialists in response to growing concerns about a fundamental lack of fairness hidden beneath the hype of the data revolution. 

“mPowered was created as our answer to a basic question: if data is the new global currency, why are so few people getting paid for it?” said mPowered co-founder Joel Sotomayor. “Every time you search for something on the Internet, or book a vacation for your family, or use a precision seeder on your farm, or ask Google for directions to a new restaurant, you’ve added data points to digital profile of YOU that you didn’t even know existed. We want to empower people to take back full ownership and control of their data — and be rewarded for sharing it.”

Launching in 2019 from the heartland of Canada’s agri-food technology sector, mPowered’s first use case will be the global agriculture system. Farm enterprises generate vast amounts of data about everything from seed and feed purchases to water and fertilizer use to barn temperatures and animal health and well-being. mPowered will encourage and reward data sharing at all points along the supply chain, from farm to table. Farmers will collect rewards for data they already have from using precision agriculture machinery and IoT sensors including production rates, tillable acreage, surface temperatures in fields, water availability, pest infestations, fertilizer coverage and more.

“mPowered’s proprietary algorithm and machine learning technology will provide farmers with the means to monetize the data from their individual experiences for an additional revenue stream and in this way contribute to the stability, security, innovation and growth of the global agricultural system,” Mr. Sotomayor said. “Our mission is driven by the belief that data should be available and accessible worldwide.

“This is especially true when it comes to agriculture. Feeding the world’s growing population is driving more and more technological innovation, which places more and more demands on the agri-food sector to capture data in order promote traceability, food safety and quality assurance, reduce waste, combat food fraud, and more. The mPowered ecosystem will generate MORE valuable, validated data to broaden and deepen our understanding of the state of the global food system, while making sure rewards for creating that knowledge are shared fairly among all participants.”

Tony Zerucha


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