from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by Jenny Melo-Velasco (Huella Delta & Division of Applied Social Sciences, U of Missouri), Kelly Wilson (School of Natural Resources, U of Missouri), Mary Hendrickson (Division of Applied Social Sciences, U of Missouri), and Corinne Valdivia (Division of Applied Social Sciences, U of Missouri).
This paper invites both scholars and practitioners to take a deeper, critical look at digital agriculture—offering a guiding framework to unpack its socio-ethical implications and support more inclusive, informed, and responsible innovation.
Digital technologies in agriculture—such as sensors that guide fertilizer use, apps that track livestock movements, or platforms that connect farmers and consumers—promise to transform food production by increasing efficiency, productivity, and sustainability. However, critical scholars and social movements warn that without careful attention to power dynamics and governance, these innovations may deepen existing inequalities in agri-food systems.
In a new JAFSCD article, Understanding the social implications of digital agricultural technologies, authors Jenny Melo-Velasco, Kelly Wilson, Mary Hendrickson, and Corinne Valdivia present a theory-based applied study that examines how digitalization interacts with existing structures in agri-food systems. The article introduces a socio-ethical awareness framework to support scholars and practitioners in identifying key questions around access, control, and inclusion when promoting or assessing digital tools in agriculture.
Corresponding author Jenny Melo-Velasco can be reached at jenny@huelladelta.com. KEY FINDINGS -
Digital agriculture is not neutral: The dominant techno-optimist narrative obscures how digital technologies embed and reproduce power asymmetries, potentially excluding small and limited-resource farmers.
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Reframing the discussion around services opens new dialogues: Focusing on the functions and services that technologies provide—rather than on the tools themselves—enables more inclusive, cross-sectoral conversations about governance, access, and impact.
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The socio-ethical awareness framework bridges theory and practice: The framework offers a structured, practical tool for scholars and practitioners to assess socio-ethical dimensions of digitalization, facilitating reflection, comparative analysis, and more equitable innovation.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH Policy -
Create enabling environments that support inclusive digital innovation by recognizing and addressing power asymmetries in technology design and deployment.
- Promote multi-actor dialogues that incorporate socio-ethical considerations into digital agriculture strategies and territorial planning.
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Support case-based assessments that inform adaptive governance models responsive to local realities and farmers’ agency.
Practice -
Use the socio-ethical awareness framework as a common language to guide collaboration among farmers, practitioners, and technology developers.
- Incorporate socio-ethical questions early in the design and promotion of digital tools to ensure that technologies align with smallholder needs and do not exacerbate exclusion.
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Facilitate sector-specific conversations rooted in real contexts to identify how technologies are reshaping relationships and decision-making on the ground.
Research -
Apply the framework in diverse agricultural settings to analyze how digital technologies influence power dynamics, agency, and socio-economic outcomes.
- Study the role of business models and organizational arrangements in shaping the inclusivity and governance of digital tools.
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Advance applied, action-oriented research that generates insights for co-designing technologies and governance structures that mitigate inequality.
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Who really benefits from digital agriculture? While new technologies promise to boost efficiency and sustainability, they can also deepen existing inequalities if we don’t pay attention to power and access. A new research article introduces a practical framework to help scholars and practitioners ask better questions and make digitalization more inclusive for small-scale farmers. #AgTech #FarmTechEthics #ResponsibleInnovation #SmallFarmers #DigitalAg Read the full @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.143.010
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Photo above: On the left, a farmer reviews crop data on a tablet; on the right, a drone monitors a cultivated field; at the bottom, an individual holds a smartphone displaying an agricultural monitoring app. Source: StockCake; provided by the authors. |
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In a new JAFSCD viewpoint, From fencerow to product: The potential of feral apple jelly and other products for farm gate sales, authors Desiree Archer, Eric Sager, Matt Porter, and David V. Beresford argue for protecting the wild hedges that grow on field borders and along wooden fences, commonly found on marginal farmland. These hedges are effectively linear forests, and as woodlands disappear hedges become critically important for wildlife. Formerly, agronomists denigrated these field borders as sources of plant diseases, breeding sites for farm pests, and land lost to production. This view often persists in spite of recent evidence that these hedges are beneficial for farmers, providing habitat for native pollinators and nesting sites for insect predators. To overcome the negative association such hedges have, the authors argue that wild apples and other fruit growing in these hedges could be used to make high-quality products for farm gate sales. For example, the wild apples that are descended from extinct heritage breeds would produce jellies with tastes unique to each farm. The authors suggest that making and selling such product would work best at the family farm and community levels and be a source of direct income. This could reposition such hedges as direct economic assets in a win-win for biodiversity and producers, and not just as land lost to production.
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Overgrown hedges on farm fences could be sources of unique-tasting food and farm gate products such as wild apple jelly. #feralapples #farmgatesales #hedges. Read the @JAFSCD article for free at https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.143.031
Photo above: Wild apple trees in bloom in a hedge along a fence. Photo provided by the authors. |
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Film and Book Available for Review
Interested in documentaries and like to review one and share your thoughts with JAFSCD’s readers? Or need some summer reading? Fill out this quick review query form. You can also use the form to suggest other films, books, or reports for review. The selected reviewer will receive free access to the film or the book (hard copy or ebook).
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Farming While Black: As the co-founder of Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York, Leah Penniman finds strength in the deep historical knowledge of African agrarianism — agricultural practices that can heal people and the planet. Influenced and inspired by Karen Washington, a pioneer in urban community gardens in New York City, and fellow farmer and organizer Blain Snipstal, Leah galvanizes around farming as the basis of revolutionary justice. The film chronicles Penniman and two other Black farmers’ efforts to reclaim their agricultural heritage. Collectively, their work has a major impact as leaders in the sustainable agriculture and food justice movements.
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The Practice of Collective Escape: Politics, Justice and Community in Urban Growing Projects, by Helen Traill (U of Glasgow). From the publisher:
"Escape is an enticing idea in contemporary cities across the world. . . . Urban community growing projects are often considered by practitioners and commentators as communal havens in a stressful cityscape. Drawing on ethnographic research in urban growing projects in Glasgow, this book explores the spatial politics and dynamics of community, asking who benefits from such projects and how they relate to the wider city. A timely consideration of localism and community empowerment, the book sheds light on key issues of urban land use, the right to the city and the value of social connection."
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