Bayer dissolves partnership with “Airbnb of farmland”
In the Midwest, approximately half of all farmland is rented. Recently, a venture capital-backed startup named Tillable has tried to “disrupt” traditional landlord-tenant relationships, by inserting itself as a middleman between landowners and farmers. To do so, it rents out land that was previously leased directly to farmers and then posts it online for subletting. This was upsetting to producers (understandably) but what recently pushed them over the edge was a new partnership between Tillable and Climate Corporation, a Bayer-owned farm data analytics company. Farmers accused the two companies of trafficking their farm data—which Tillable denies—fomenting enough anger on social media that the partnership was eventually dissolved. NPR has the story.
