  Governments must keep agricultural systems free of pests that threaten
agricultural production and international trade. Biosecurity surveillance
already makes use of a wide range of technologies, such as insect traps and
lures, geographic information systems, and diagnostic biochemical tests. The
rise of cheap and usable surveillance technologies such as remotely piloted
aircraft systems (RPAS) presents value conflicts not addressed in international
biosurveillance guidelines. The costs of keeping agriculture pest-free include
privacy violations and reduced autonomy for farmers. We argue that physical and
digital privacy in the age of ubiquitous aerial and ground surveillance is a
natural right to allow people to function freely on their land. Surveillance
methods must be co-created and justified through using ethically defensible
processes such as discourse theory, value-centred design and responsible
innovation to forge a cooperative social contract between diverse stakeholders.
We propose an ethical framework for biosurveillance activities that balances
the collective benefits for food security with individual privacy: (1)
establish the boundaries of a biosurveillance social contract; (2) justify
surveillance operations for the farmers, researchers, industry, the public and
regulators; (3) give decision makers a reasonable measure of control over their
personal and agricultural data; and (4) choose surveillance methodologies that
give the appropriate information. The benefits of incorporating an ethical
framework for responsible biosurveillance innovation include increased
participation and accumulated trust over time. Long term trust and cooperation
will support food security, producing higher quality data overall and
mitigating against anticipated information gaps that may emerge due to
disrespecting landholder rights
