11 pages., Via online article, A “digital revolution” in agriculture is underway. Advanced technologies like sensors, artificial intelligence, and robotics are increasingly being promoted as a means to increase food production efficiency while minimizing resource use. In the process, agricultural digitalization raises critical social questions about the implications for diverse agricultural labourers and rural spaces as digitalization evolves. In this paper, we use literature and field data to outline some key trends being observed at the nexus of agricultural production, technology, and labour in North America, with a particular focus on the Canadian context. Using the data, we highlight three key tensions observed: rising land costs and automation; the development of a high-skill/low-skilled bifurcated labour market; and issues around the control of digital data. With these tensions in mind, we use a social justice lens to consider the potential implications of digital agricultural technologies for farm labour and rural communities, which directs our attention to racial exploitation in agricultural labour specifically. In exploring these tensions, we argue that policy and research must further examine how to shift the trajectory of digitalization in ways that support food production as well as marginalized agricultural labourers, while pointing to key areas for future research—which is lacking to date. We emphasize that the current enthusiasm for digital agriculture should not blind us to the specific ways that new technologies intensify exploitation and deepen both labour and spatial marginalization.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 113 Document Number: C11192
Journal Title Details:
6 pages
Notes:
Conference: Partnerships & Participation in Telecommunications for Rural Development at the beautiful campus of the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, October 26 & 27, 1998.
Samulowitz, Hansjoachim. (author), Ubelhor, Walter. (author), and Gesellschaft fur Information und Dokumentation.
Format:
Report
Language:
German with English summary
Publication Date:
1986
Published:
West Germany
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 92 Document Number: C06820
Notes:
Contains Table of Contents and Summary (in English); AGRICOLA CAT 90933611, Frankfurt am Main : IDD Verlag fur Internationale Dokumentation Werner Flach, 1986. 147 p. : ill. (Beitrage und Berichte. Reihe A, 0175-4599; Nr. 7.)
