Value of Farm Data in Farmland Rental Markets: Management versus Signaling Value

Precision farming data enhance agricultural productivity by informing site-specific resource management. These benefits may be capitalized into the underlying value of the farmland, raising rental rates. This article uses a stated preference choice experiment to estimate farmers’ willingness to pay for farm data in farmland rental markets. Farmers are willing to pay a small premium to acquire data accrued by previous operators, depending on the field type and quality information provided by the landowner and farmers’ use of precision agriculture technology. We find evidence that farm data confer both a “management value” and a “signaling value” to prospective tenants.