An interesting article from The Economist (24 May 2014) on the use of big data on the farm and the relationship with prescriptive planting – the “system that tells them [farmers] with great precision which seeds to plant and how to cultivate them in each patch of land”.
There is a reference to The Climate Corporation which was founded by two Google ex-employees, mapping US land info, soil details and weather data with the purpose of using the aggregated data for selling crop insurance. This company was later bought by Monsanto for about USD 1 billion – one of the largest takeovers of a data company. #bigdataagriculture

Read more about it here:

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21602757-managers-most-traditional-industries-distrust-promising-new-technology-digital