Presentation short abstract

Drawing on research with commercial grain farmers (wheat and maize) in South Africa, this presentation will analyse how precision agriculture (PA) technologies have (re)shaped farmer knowledge and behaviour through soil health data, with a specific focus on sustainable agriculture transitions.

Presentation long abstract

Digital agriculture technologies are transforming agriculture across the globe. The rise and proliferation of such technologies has been met with a mix of optimism and anxiety (Carolan, 2020). Drawing on research with commercial grain farmers (wheat and maize) in South Africa, this presentation will analyse how precision agriculture (PA) technologies have (re)shaped farmer knowledge and behaviour, especially regarding sustainable agriculture transitions. PA technologies are diverse and often require biological and chemical soil assessments upon which the technologies are calibrated. For example, variable rate fertiliser application requires detailed soil analysis to inform field maps which guide the amount of fertiliser applied to different field portions. Soil assessment data have fundamentally changed how commercial grain farmers know and manage their land. Where, previously, farm knowledge relied on visual and relational environmental cues, it is now dependent on scientific data, on chemical and biological soil profiles. PA technologies and their data have thus created a number of agricultural transition pathways. On the one hand, PA technologies and soil data ameliorate some of the consequences of industrial and productivist agriculture systems, maintaining dependencies and creating digital divides. These technologies are built into industrial agriculture assemblages and, as a result, technological lock-in persists. On the other hand, breakthroughs in (micro)biological soil assessments have enabled commercial grain farmers to conceptualise soil health in more relatable ways and have helped to foster sustainable agriculture transitions. This presentation will unpack the differing aims with which soil data are used and how this affects farmer behaviour and knowledge.