How will this research address the “Digital Agricultural Revolution”
Fraser’s team has engaged with faculty from across campus in a series of workshops to explore the following questions: how might definitions of sustainable agriculture change given digital technologies? How might agricultural labour and rural communities be affected by digital agricultural technologies? Finally, as digital technologies develop in the agricultural sector, how should agriculture and food related data be governed in such a way as to ensure cyber security, privacy and protect ownership?
What impact will the project have on agriculture?
Academic outputs will include empirical and theoretical reviews of the social consequences of disruptive emerging technologies such as precision agriculture, as well as better understanding of best management practices relating to the governance of agriculture and food data.
Key messages
Note that these key messages are shared with Evan Fraser’s other Food from Thought project: Agriculture in the North.
The common denominator that cuts through both of these themes is that although the technologies associated with digital agriculture offers huge potential, no technology is a panacea and that to realize the benefits of the digital agricultural revolution we must embark in an honest partnership with community groups that is both fair and transparent in order to deploy these new technologies in a way that benefits both society and the environment.
Other information
Note that this section is shared with Evan Fraser’s other Food from Thought project: Agriculture in the North.
Partners: Conservation International has been instrumental in the first phase of the northern agricultural research. In addition, we are starting to work closely with a large number of parties that will be formally engaged in the next phase.
Collaborators: Merritt Turetsky, Aaron Berg, Clarence Swanton, Aaron Berg, Shayan Sharif.
The following students have been closely aligned with this work: Emily Duncan, Jared Schenkels, Chantel Kozachenko, Evan Gravely, Sarah Rotz, Krishna KC, Ian Mosby, Justin Adams, Katya Kudashinka, Nasrin Husseini, Andrew Nixon.
For more information on this research project, please visit https://feeding9billion.com/
