Farm robots: ecological utopia or dystopia?

Daum, Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2021.06.002

Cited by 48 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…A diversity of design processes and designers is therefore likely essential to address the multifaceted design needs of automated farming futures, needs which will vary in relation to the context-specific political ecologies that automation may precipitate. Locally-adapted and diverse design processes could help to avoid that the limited values and norms of homogeneous designers dictate a perpetuation of business-as-usual (Bronson, 2019 ; Escobar, 2018 ), that valued human or non-human actors are displaced (Schmitz & Moss, 2015 ), or that one-way technology development fuels a trajectory towards a robot-managed mega-monoculture dystopia (Daum, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussion: Beyond the Dream Of Total Automationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bellon Maurel & Huyghe, 2017 ), believing that where labor is a limiting factor, automation offers the possibility of implementing agroecological practices in new contexts and at broader scales. In painting a picture of an automated ecological farming utopia, Daum ( 2021 ) imagines that fleets of robots working 24/7 will enable farmers to adopt agroecological farming methods where high labor demands would otherwise be a constraint. For others, particularly in small-scale systems and less mechanized contexts, the manual labor demands of ‘doing’ agroecology are rather regarded as opportunities to foster meaningful livelihoods and community involvement, connecting humans both to the land and to each other (Nicholls & Altieri, 2018 ; Timmermann & Félix, 2015 ).…”

Section: Historical and Conceptual Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Automating Agroecology: How to Design a Farming Robot Without a Monocultural Mindset?

Ditzler

Driessen

2022

J Agric Environ Ethics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Robots are widely expected—and pushed—to transform open-field agriculture, but these visions remain wedded to optimizing monocultural farming systems. Meanwhile there is little pull for automation from ecology-based, diversified farming realms. Noting this gap, we here explore the potential for robots to foster an agroecological approach to crop production. The research was situated in The Netherlands within the case of pixel cropping, a nascent farming method in which multiple food and service crops are planted together in diverse assemblages employing agroecological practices such as intercropping and biological pest control. Around this case we engaged with a variety of specialists in discussion groups, workshops, and design challenges to explore the potential of field robots to meet the multifaceted demands of highly diverse agroecological cropping systems. This generated a spectrum of imaginations for how automated tools might—or might not—be appropriately used, ranging from fully automated visions, to collaborative scenarios, to fully analogue prototypes. We found that automating agroecological cropping systems requires finding ways to imbue the ethos of agroecology into designed tools, thereby seeking to overcome tensions between production aims and other forms of social and ecological care. We conclude that a rethinking of automation is necessary for agroecological contexts: not as a blueprint for replacing humans, but making room for analogue and hybrid forms of agricultural work. These findings highlight a need for design processes which include a diversity of actors, involve iterative design cycles, and incorporate feedback between designers, practitioners, tools, and cropping systems.

show abstract

Section: Discussion: Beyond the Dream Of Total Automationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Historical and Conceptual Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automating Agroecology: How to Design a Farming Robot Without a Monocultural Mindset?

Ditzler

Driessen

2022

J Agric Environ Ethics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In fact, digital transformation is an ongoing process, in which future technological developments and its impacts are highly uncertain and difficult to predict. Development occurs in very different ways and therefore the future outcomes are quite different (Daum, 2021). Hence, for the digital transformation to come into play in a positive way, institutional decisions by regional governments are indispensable to shape the development of digital agriculture.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Agriculture in Viet Nam: Conditions and Prospect of Development

Nguyen

2022

AOL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The real context of climate change and pandemic has emphasized the enormous significance of agriculture to society and paved a path to digitization. Each country's agricultural digitalization strategies must not only focus on the technological aspects of the production system but as well present an overview of how this field of study is establishing and developing. To address this issue, a research was carried out to identify priority research questions concerning digital agriculture in Viet Nam, but with a view to also informing international contexts. The study applied a combination of methods including descriptive statistics, review of related researches reflecting the application of digital technology in agriculture, as well as systematic and institutional approaches to create the conditions for the development of digital agriculture. Concurrently, taking into account the readiness limitation of economic actors' for digital transformation is also presented in this study. Viet Nam is in the early stages of digital transformation in agriculture. Digital readiness is critical to grasping and implementing existing technologies and transforming agriculture. In order for the digital transformation to come into play in a positive way, the institutional decisions of the authorities are crucial to the major challenges facing Viet Nam's agriculture, such as digital inequalities, human resources, financial, and infrastructure constraints and inadequate awareness of existing technologies.

show abstract

“…The production-oriented paradigm imagines solutions based on productivity, technology, and optimized input management. When pushed to its furthest extreme, the fear of "big data", "agribusiness", and "robot agriculture" deters many stakeholders and practitioners from engaging in such industrialized agriculture solutions [4]. Alternatively, the countermovement of ecologically oriented agriculture endorses a more holistic style of ecologically based agriculture that focuses on long term sustainability, ecological solutions, and conservation practices [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many fear that PA will further distance producers from their land by substituting technology for local knowledge [21]. Others fear that it will prolong "productivist" values without regard for crop quality and encourage "ecological dystopias" [4]. In this sense, PA would only perpetuate the externalized costs of modern industrial agriculture on ecosystem and human health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precision Agroecology

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In response to global calls for sustainable food production, we identify two diverging paradigms to address the future of agriculture. We explore the possibility of uniting these two seemingly diverging paradigms of production-oriented and ecologically oriented agriculture in the form of precision agroecology. Merging precision agriculture technology and agroecological principles offers a unique array of solutions driven by data collection, experimentation, and decision support tools. We show how the synthesis of precision technology and agroecological principles results in a new agriculture that can be transformative by (1) reducing inputs with optimized prescriptions, (2) substituting sustainable inputs by using site-specific variable rate technology, (3) incorporating beneficial biodiversity into agroecosystems with precision conservation technology, (4) reconnecting producers and consumers through value-based food chains, and (5) building a just and equitable global food system informed by data-driven food policy. As a result, precision agroecology provides a unique opportunity to synthesize traditional knowledge and novel technology to transform food systems. In doing so, precision agroecology can offer solutions to agriculture’s biggest challenges in achieving sustainability in a major state of global change.

show abstract

Farm robots: ecological utopia or dystopia?

Cited by 48 publications

References 12 publications

Automating Agroecology: How to Design a Farming Robot Without a Monocultural Mindset?

Automating Agroecology: How to Design a Farming Robot Without a Monocultural Mindset?

Digital Agriculture in Viet Nam: Conditions and Prospect of Development

Precision Agroecology

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About