Technology for Sustainability in Organisations: Case Studies on Agricultural Production

Project Information

TECHSUS

Grant agreement ID: 707652

DOI

10.3030/707652

Project closed

EC signature date 7 March 2016

Start date 1 May 2017

End date 30 April 2019

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 195 454,80

EU contribution

€ 195 454,80

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TECHSUS (Technology for Sustainability in Organisations: Case Studies on Agricultural Production)

Reporting period: 2017-05-01 to 2019-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In the contemporary world, technological solutions to the ecological challenges have received a central role. Due to the robust political commitment to technological progress in environmental policy and related path dependencies, modern societies and organizations are increasingly contingent on technological systematizations. The development and adoption of increasingly advanced technological products and processes are taken for granted, and policies persist largely unquestioned.

In the context of agriculture, the development and implementation of new technology is considered to be central in the future of food production and particularly critical in support of sustainable modes of agricultural production. This builds on a problematic assumption that increasing technology use and advancement are a desired phenomenon, creating positive changes. Such techno-optimism is grounded on a variety of emotional and rational aspects depending on the context at issue. The key ones, which perhaps have the most significant implications to sustainability theory and practice, are the beliefs in progress and the empirically ungrounded claims of decoupling environmental damage from economic growth.

As many governmental incentives and management models still encourage inertia rather than transitions towards sustainable agricultural production, the project has great importance for society. Despite several ecological benefits of small-scale and less intensive farming methods (i.e. low degree of technology) and the rising consumer demand on sustainable produce, market shares of non-conventionally produced food remain small. Also, the matter-energy throughput of societies continues to increase. The often-higher, short-term productivity of large-scale and intensive agriculture (i.e. high degree of technology), as an outcome of greater use of external input factors, such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides, is too attractive to farmers struggling with profitability.

The purpose of the project was to shed light on the question concerning the role of technology in organizing for ecological sustainability. By examining this link between technology and sustainability, the project aimed at outlining an interdisciplinary understanding on the potential and limitations of technology-driven change. The project asked: how ecological is the kind of change that technologies are able to produce? In other words, how much can we expect from technology in the quest of ecological sustainability?

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

This study performed interdisciplinary literature reviews, conceptual analysis, and empirical work on technology and ecology with a geographical focus on food growing in Yorkshire (UK). Primary interview and observation data were collected and analyzed from 27 cases. It was found that concept of technology and ecology are closely interwoven due to their shared etymological root of ‘logos’. Technology and the ecology are both human activities, and hence political by nature, as well as embedded in nature.

The understanding of technology and ecology was found to greatly vary according to the mode of production at issue. The identified, different ‘modes of production’ were found to have varying challenges related to ecology. The modes of production characterized by higher degrees of technology mainly struggled with finding and managing efficient means to overcome nature. ‘Ecology’ was often equated with climate and the weather. The modes with lower degrees of technology again faced challenges with productivity. Ecological challenges in the low-tech production were more related to finding ways to work with nature to reduce environmental burden of agriculture. A multilevel understanding of challenges (e.g. planetary boundaries, national capacities, and regional possibilities) was found worthwhile in effectively responding to the ecological crisis.

The research showed that while there are differences and tensions between the different modes of production in agriculture, there are also synergies. The low-technology agriculture has obvious ecological benefits, as it is geared towards low-scale production and productivity. Technological solutions per se, however, were found to be neither constraining or enabling. The question relevant for ecological sustainability is rather about the overall degree of technology, i.e. asking ‘how much’ is produced in addition to considering ‘how’ this amount is produced. Being so, the 'archetypical modes of production' are considered to be neither sustainable nor unsustainable themselves. The sustainability of a particular system is determined by its overall degree of technology (which should not exceed the renewal rate of the available energy sources and the capacities of the ecological sinks to absorb waste).

Overall, this study found that in addition to the lack of organizational resources of the food growers (including economic capital, knowledge, and awareness of the ecological challenges) and public policies, a more fundamental barrier to developing sustainable modes of production prevails, namely technological optimism. With high expectations on future solutions by means of clean technology, industrial agriculture and intensification efforts today may continue without interruptions.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The main scientific advancement of the project is a critique of technology, which is theoretically comprehensive, empirically grounded and practically relevant. First of all, the project provides a conceptual basis for the notions of technology, ecology and nature, as well as their inter-relations. Secondly, the project provides insights on how differently ecological challenges can be understood in relation to technology. Thirdly, the project outlines ways to respond to these ecological challenges in the organizational context. Fourthly, the project develops management and policy tools that are ethically inclusive and ecologically realistic.

The research has added to our understanding on the role of technology for ecologically sustainable organization and deepened the interdisciplinary body of knowledge by a critical view on the kind of change technology can produce in agriculture. The hypothesis that ‘in addition to the lack of organizational resources of farmers and public policies, a more fundamental barrier to developing sustainable food production prevails, namely technological optimism’ was confirmed. The increasing expectations on advanced technology being developed in future was found to hamper effective solutions today, and were found to be culturally rather hegemonic.

Because high-technology organization carries expectations that it is unlikely to deliver, the project calls for diversification in the modes of production. The trust in finding technological solutions to ecological problems in future should be complemented with precautionary approaches, which in practice signifies also support for low-technology production. The main rationale for this integrative approach in societal implications was derived from the data, where agricultural production was found to be very dependent on the global flows of goods and services and international politics, as well as hence inherently linked to food prices and speculation. Despite their lower levels of productivity, the more local and low-tech organization of production were found to increase resilience in times of social and ecological crises.

Archetypical modes of production through a technology lens