Paper short abstract:

This paper explores DigitAg's role in enhancing digital agriculture for small-scale farming through interdisciplinary research. It discusses the challenges and successes in creating accessible technologies, fostering collaboration across disciplines, and co-creating knowledge with partners.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, using DigitAg as a case study, we explore the opportunities and challenges associated with interdisciplinary research on the creation of knowledge and technologies for niche, small-scale agriculture, thereby enhancing their adoptability by farmers.

DigitAg is one of the Convergence Institutes, supported by the French National Research Agency to tackle major societal challenges by creating a critical mass through a multidisciplinary network across public and private partners. Founded in 2016 with a lifespan of 8 years, DigitAg's objective is to establish the scientific foundations necessary for the harmonious deployment of digital agriculture. The project stands out for its emphasis on interdisciplinarity and low-cost technologies for small-scale exploitation. To achieve this, it brings together more than 570 experts from agronomic sciences, engineering sciences, and social and management sciences and has produced approximately 70 interdisciplinary PhD theses, in addition to research collaboration and two Flagship projects.

Against this backdrop, we explore how DigitAg's imperative of interdisciplinarity has unfolded through research collaboration and technological developments at the practical level. With its emphasis on interdisciplinarity, DigitAg has made efforts to enable the co-creation of knowledge, which includes industrial and agricultural partners. How has this endeavor, both interdisciplinary and intersectoral, occurred during the formulation of new research questions and the conception of technologies? What specific challenges have emerged in initiating conversations between diverging actors? We discuss these questions based on interviews with project members and direct observations.