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Title: Feeding the World with Data: Visions of Data-Driven Farming
Recent years have seen increased investment in data-driven farming through the use of sensors (hardware), algorithms (software), and networking technologies to guide decision making. By analyzing the discourse of 34 startup company websites, we identify four future visions promoted by data-driven farming startups: the vigilant farmer who controls all aspects of her farm through data; the efficient farmer who has optimized his farm operations to be profitable and sustainable; the enlightened farmer who achieves harmony with nature via data-driven insights; and the empowered farmer who asserts ownership of her farm's data, and uses it to benefit herself and her fellow farmers. We describe each of these visions and how startups propose to achieve them. We then consider some consequences of these visions; in particular, how they might affect power relations between the farmer and other stakeholders in agriculture--farm workers, nonhumans, and the technology providers themselves.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1718121 1845964
PAR ID:
10105588
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the 2019 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1503 to 1515
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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