Critical factors of digital AgTech adoption on Australian farms: from digital to data divide

ABSTRACT

As global agricultural production methods and supply chains have become more digitised, farmers around the world are adopting digital agricultural technologies (AgTech) such as drones, IoT, remote sensors, blockchain and satellite imagery to inform on-farm decision-making. Yet, on the backdrop of a persistent digital divide between rural and urban communities, many Australian farmers are not taking up digital AgTech. It has been argued that these farmers are being ‘left behind’ in an increasingly digital world, and this may impact their future success. Scholars of digital AgTech adoption typically take a siloed approach, positioning the individual or farm as the key unit of analysis, with fewer studies addressing structural conditions. This has provided a useful but incomplete understanding of the disparity between users and non-users. This paper builds upon emerging sociocultural approaches, which aim to address this gap, by using a novel ‘communitive ecology’ analytical approach to consider how adoption occurs through networks of actors. Based on an exploratory, qualitative study of a digital farming project on a cotton farm and its digital communicative ecology in South-East Queensland, Australia this study identifies technological, discursive, and social factors of digital AgTech adoption. Overall, an evolution from a digital divide to data divide, expressed in the interactions between farmers and stakeholders, and characterised by gaps between the generation and application of farm data, is observed.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital divide
• data inequalities
• agriculture
• communicative ecology
• precision agriculture
• digital farming

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Tim Neale from Data Farming as a key industry collaborator in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Retrieved 8 March 2022. https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/support-and-resources/funds-grants-programs/digital-agriculture-investment-scheme.

2 Retrieved 8 March 2022. https://www.foodagility.com/.

3 Retrieved 8 March 2022. https://digitalagricultureservices.com/.

4 Funded by Australian Government’s then Department of Agriculture and Water, involving all 15 Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) across diverse sectors (e.g., cropping, horticulture, and livestock).

5 Sovereignty was never ceded by the Indigenous people of Australia.

6 Long Range Wide Area Networks.

7 The Cotton RDC led the 15 RDCs in the P2D project.

8 The National Farmers’ Federation has a voluntary Australian Farm Data Code. https://nff.org.au/programs/australian-farm-data-code/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology.

Notes on contributors

Amber Marshall

Dr Amber Marshall is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology’s Digital Media Research Centre, and an Adjunct Research Fellow at The Cairns Institute, James Cook University. Dr Marshall’s research focuses on digital inclusion and sustainable rural development. Drawing on communication and organisation sciences, she employs practice/process-based theoretical perspectives to investigate sociocultural factors influencing how individuals, organisations and communities can become digitally connected and adopt digital technologies. Her research interests include digital AgTech and data, digital inclusion ecosystems, remote telecommunications infrastructure (both technical and social), and digital skills and capability development [email: [email protected]].

Krystle Turner

Dr Krystle Turner is a rurally residing academic at Queensland University of Technology. Her research interests include rurality, digital inclusion and media, education access, and widening participation. She is passionate about advocating for rural people through research, foregrounding the uniqueness of the Australian context [email: [email protected]].

Carol Richards

Dr Carol Richards is an Associate Professor in the School of Management, Business School, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Trained as a sociologist, she conducts research into sustainable food systems. Her areas of interest include digital agriculture, circular food economy, food waste, food security, systems of governance and power in food supply chains. Carol is currently leading a multidisciplinary team that has developed a digital circular food economy prototype (funded by the Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre and Lendlease). In 2022, she was awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Program grant to examine the relationship between food system shocks such as Covid, fires and floods on food security [email: [email protected]].

Marcus Foth

Marcus Foth is Professor of Urban Informatics in the Queens land University of Technology’s Design Lab and a Chief Investigator in the QUT Digital Media Research Centre. He is also an Honorary Professor in the School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Denmark. Marcus’ research brings together people, place, and technology. His current research foci include: urban media and geoprivacy; data care in smart cities; digital inclusion and participation; blockchain and food supply chains, and; sustainability and more-than-human futures. For two decades, Marcus has led ubiquitous computing and interaction design research into interactive digital media, screen, mobile and smart city applications [email: [email protected]].

Michael Dezuanni

Professor Michael Dezuanni undertakes research about digital media, literacies and learning in home, school and community contexts. He is the Program Leader for Digital Inclusion and Participation for Queensland University of Technology’s Digital Media Research Centre which produces world-leading research for a creative, inclusive and fair digital media environment. He is also a chief investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. Michael has undertaken several projects with a focus on Digital Inclusion in regional and rural communities and amongst low income families. He has a particular interest in how people develop the knowledge and skills to use digital media for positive social outcomes [email: [email protected]].