Monsanto is the corporation best-known for its controversial use of genetically-modified organisms, and less well-known for being involved in the story of the defoliant Agent Orange well told in the book and film "The World According to Monsanto" by Marie-Monique Robin. The company is starting to explore new fields - Monsanto is going digital.

Monsanto spent close to $1 billion to buy the Climate Corporation, a data analytics firm. Last year the chemical and seed company also bought Precision Planting, another high-tech body, and also launched a venture capital arm geared to finance tech start-ups.

Here's the key shift that is behind that move: many farmers have been collecting digitized yield data on their operations since the 1990s, when high-tech farm tools first emerged. Now smart devices can wirelessly transfer data straight to a corporation's servers, sometimes without a farmer's knowledge. To make it clear, data that in isolation is of limited use suddenly becomes highly valuable when aggregated.

The details on the economic worth of a farm operation could empower Monsanto or DuPont to calculate the exact value the farm derives from its products. Monsanto already estimates its prices by region, so that Illinois farmers with a bumper crop might be charged more for seeds than Texas farmers facing a drought. Bigger heaps of data would enable these companies to carry out a wiser price policy.

Real-time data is highly valuable to investors and financial traders. In a market where the slightest informational edge makes the difference between huge profits and even bigger losses, corporations that gather big data will have a ready customer base if they choose to sell their knowledge. Or they could just use it to speculate themselves.

There is also a question how the value of this information will be determined, and the profits divided. The prescription services Monsanto and DuPont are offering will draw on the vast amounts of data they amass from thousands of individual farms.

The parallels with Facebook, Google and other online services providers that make money from collecting and analyzing personal data, are obvious. By processing huge quantities of previously secret data, companies gain a privileged position with unique insights into what farmers are doing. In other words, Monsanto seems to become "the NSA of agriculture".

BASF Canada and Monsanto Canada team up again for improved weed management

Working together with retailers across eastern Canada, BASF Canada and Monsanto Canada are once again offering growers a $1 per acre rebate when INTEGRITY, ERAGON, MARKSMAN and/or ARMEZON herbicides are purchased with matching acres of Roundup WeatherMAX herbicide. Together, these tank-mix partners deliver multiple modes of action for optimized activity on tough to control and potentially resistant weeds.

For growers in eastern Canada, this will be a year-end rebate that is applicable on products purchased between October 1, 2013 and July 31, 2014. Growers will receive their rebate cheque in fall of 2014.

"The potential for herbicide resistance is a concern, so itâEUR(TM)s important for growers to use best practices, which includes using multiple modes of action when controlling weeds,âEUR