Abstract
Abstract
This article introduces the concept of
agro-algorithmic stockpiles
as an analytical category for understanding an emerging form of governance in EU agricultural markets, based on the interplay of food security, data infrastructures and algorithmic coordination. Building on the historical role of public stockpiling under Article 39 TFEU and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), it argues that the market-stabilisation function is shifting from the management of physical reserves to the regulation of data-driven predictive systems. The analysis is situated within the framework of European risk regulation, focusing on the interaction between the Data Act and the AI Act. While the Data Act establishes the legal infrastructure for access to and non-opportunistic use of agricultural data, the exclusion of agrifood systems from the scope of high-risk artificial intelligence systems results in a regulatory deficit in the management of systemic risks, including algorithmic monocultures, pro-cyclical dynamics and the concentration of decision-making power. By framing food security as a domain of critical infrastructure governance, the article concludes that
agro-algorithmic stockpiles
constitute a paradigmatic test case for the EU’s risk-based approach to artificial intelligence regulation and for a reassessment of the stabilising function of the CAP in the digital era.