Digitalisation in Agriculture: Knowledge and Learning Requirements of German Dairy Farmers

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims at investigating how digitalisation (in the sense of industry 4.0) has changed the work of farmers and how they experience the changes from more traditional work to digitalised agriculture. It also investigates what knowledge farmers require on digitalised farms and how they acquire it. Dairy farming was used as domain of investigation since it, unlike other industries, has strongly been affected by digitalisation throughout the last years.Method: Exploratory interviews with 10 livestock farmers working on digitalised dairy farms were analysed using qualitative content analysis. A deductive and inductive coding strategy was used. Findings: Farming work has changed from more manual tasks towards symbol manipulation and data processing. Farmers must be able to use computers and other digital devices to retrieve and analyse sensor data that allow them to monitor and control the processes on their farm. For this new kind of work, farmers require elaborated mental models that link traditional farming knowledge with knowledge about digital systems, including a strong understanding of production processes underlying their farm. Learning is mostly based on instructions offered by manufacturers of the new technology as well as informal and non-formal learning modes. Even younger farmers report that digital technology was not sufficiently covered in their (vocational) degrees. In general, farmers emphasises the positive effects of digitalisation both on their working as well as private life. Conclusions: Farmers should be aware of the opportunities as well as the potential drawbacks of the digitalisation of work processes in agriculture. Providers of agricultural education (like vocational schools or training institutes) need to incorporate the knowledge and skills required to work in digitalised environments (e.g., data literacy) in their syllabi. Further studies are required to assess how digitalisation changes farming practices and what knowledge as well as skills linked to these developments are required in the future.

Analyse der sozialen Folgen von digitalen Technologien für Betriebe in der kleinstrukturierten Landwirtschaft

“…Zu den relativ intensiv betrachteten Technologien gehört z. B. der Melkroboter (Schewe und Stuart 2015;Goller et al 2021). Die bisherigen Erkenntnisse der Forschung zur Auswirkung der Digitalisierung werden nachfolgend kurz erläutert.…”

“…In der bisherigen Forschung v. a. in großen Agrarstrukturen wurden bereits ähnliche positive Wirkungen, wie z. B. die körperliche Entlastung oder die Flexibilisierung, beobachtet (Rohleder et al 2020;Goller et al 2021). Dadurch, dass Landwirte teilweise mehr Freizeit bzw.…”

“…Diese Steigerung der Lebensqualität sehen Sparrow und Howard ( 2021 Eine relevante negative Folge sehen die Experten vor allem im Bereich der höheren psychischen Stressbelastung durch die als ständig notwendig wahrgenommene Erreichbarkeit und Verfügbarkeit für die digitalen Technologien (18), v. a. bei Notfallalarmen von Melkrobotern, Gesundheitsüberwachungs-, Fütterungs-oder Abkalbesystemen. Goller et al (2021) deuten dies ebenfalls für mittlere Strukturen an. Allerdings betonen vereinzelt Experten der Industrie, dass der Grad dieser Belastung individuell stark variieren kann.…”

International Scientific Conference “New Challenges in Economic and Business Development – 2022: Responsible Growth” : Proceedings

“…Australia has evaluated several approaches and has remarkable experience (Baker, et al, 2017;Ciptono, et al, 2021) which could be interesting also for other countries. Pedagogy aspects are on academic researchers agenda (Goller, et al, 2021;Siebert, et.al., 2009;Sauli, et al, 2021) with valuable conclusions which could be useful for practical consideration for adaption some aspects in work-based learning also in other countries. Researchers have stated important question "Can work-based learning programmes help companies to become learning organisations?…”

E-Commerce and Sales Management in Agribusiness

“…It has also been indicated that farmers' digital readiness influences the willingness to engage in e-commerce . Therefore, vocational schools and universities as well as companies and retailers of agricultural inputs should offer various digital training systems, including training on e-commerce Goller et al, 2021). The willingness to pay for such digital training already seems to be given, as it can help farmers to generate benefits (Michels et al, 2019b).…”