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Where Silicon Valley meets Silicon Prairie: Exploring the Research and Development of Digital Farming Technologies

Project description

Digging deeper into digital farming technologies

Digital farming technologies are expected to revolutionise the future of food production, but how? Are digital innovations in agriculture the solution to feed the world with less resources, inputs, pesticides, human labour and detrimental environmental impacts than the current food system? The EU-funded AGTECH project will answer these questions by focusing on the various actors – scientists, technology developers, engineers, start-up entrepreneurs, ‘urban hipsters’, financiers and business leaders – who are imagining and developing the future use of technologies. Understanding these initial stages will shed light on how digital farming technologies should be used in society. To gain insight into particular funding structures and entrepreneurial cultures, the project will interview stakeholders and undertake participant observation.

Objective

This research aims to understand how, by whom, and with what intentions and objectives digital farming technologies are being developed, and what this means for the future of food production. Digital innovations in agriculture have attracted much interest in recent years, and are often touted as the solution to feed the world with less resources, inputs, pesticides, human labour, and detrimental environmental impacts than the current food system. At this point, however, it is unclear whether digital farming technologies will indeed fulfil such promises. This research project presumes that digital farming technologies need to be studied at their initial research and development levels – to fully understand the various motivations, goals, practices, and decisions made during these early, but critical, stages of technological development – and therefore the products that will come to market. Long before technologies arrive at the farm, various actors – scientists, technology developers, engineers, Start-Up entrepreneurs, ‘urban hipsters’, financiers, and business leaders – begin to imagine, develop, and make key decisions concerning the future use of technologies. Understanding these initial stages of development will allow us to gauge how these processes determine how, by whom, and under what conditions digital farming technologies will be used in society. This research will be done by undertaking participant observation and qualitative interviews within two of the most expansive and innovative clusters of agricultural technology development in the world, the University of California (UC) system, coupled with Silicon and Central Valleys in the US; and Wageningen University & Research (WUR), with Food Valley, in the Netherlands. Within these sites, I focus on two major funding structures and entrepreneurial cultures, university-based Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), and finance-capital funded Agtech Start-Ups to draw my larger conclusions.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

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Coordinator

ERASMUS UNIVERSITEIT ROTTERDAM
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 271 052,16
Address
BURGEMEESTER OUDLAAN 50
3062 PA Rotterdam
Netherlands

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Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 271 052,16

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