The Digital Ag Revolution: Implications for Labor, Sustainability, and Growth
November 19, 2021
3:30-4:30pm
Anne Visser and Martin Kenney, UC Davis
Zoom Link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/97597469808?pwd=ZFF5b3lpRUllRElpR0dibFFRZkxYdz09
Agriculture and the food system in the US is being drawn into the
platform economy and is being transformed by digital technologies
and automation. Such changes were initially concentrated in
agricultural equipment and inputs but now are transforming
distribution, retail and consumption in the agrifood system.
These new digital technologies offer remarkable opportunities to
make agriculture more sustainable and contribute to the
amelioration of inequality at the local, regional, and global
level. And yet, digital innovations and, in particular, the
adoption of platforms risk creating further distortions and
exacerbating concerning trends related to inequality in
agriculture and rural labor markets. Through a review of findings
across 4 ongoing studies we highlight the implications that
increased automation, digitization, and platformization have in
relation to on-farm operations, on farm work procedures and
processes and the demand for on-farm labor and the job structure
across the industry. We argue that these trends carry
consequential implications for workers, labor markets, and the
industry as a whole related to issues of equity and socioeconomic
inequalities.