Paper short abstract:

This study reveals how digital extension platforms shift the framing of farmers from a deficit to active sources of expertise and value. It critiques assumptions that inclusive design inherently delivers benefits, exposing trade-offs in balancing farmer needs, donor goals, and technical efficiency.

Paper long abstract:

The digitalization of agricultural extension has spurred the adoption of user-centric and value-sensitive approaches that extend beyond design into the delivery of advisory platforms. Digital extensionists seek to uncover, negotiate, and operationalize farmers’ values, fostering context-sensitive innovation at scale. However, the anticipated benefits for farmers remain elusive, as these values often become entangled in bureaucratic processes, distorted by institutional priorities, or overlooked in politically charged design environments. This highlights the need to critically examine how social and technical interactions are designed and the assumption that inclusive, value-driven processes inherently lead to more effective digital extension platforms.

This article uses critical discourse analysis to investigate how normative discourses—shared beliefs about what is considered normal or desirable—shape design processes and outcomes. An analysis of two digital extension platforms reveals that discourses of decentralized design and open knowledge sharing reframe farmers as active sources of expertise and value, rather than passive recipients. While this reframing holds potential for more effective advisory services, it also introduces trade-offs, particularly around aligning benefits for farmers with the needs of designers and donors and optimizing technical systems to serve diverse users.

The study offers practical insights into the distribution of labour in digital extension, balancing technological efficiency with approaches that prioritize farmers’ lived experiences. Theoretically, it contributes to norm-sensitive design by revealing how discourses become self-evident, obscuring value trade-offs and reducing critical reflection in design. By addressing these gaps, the article identifies pathways to align digital agriculture’s transformative potential with inclusive, equitable, and norm-sensitive practices.