Digital technology is often seen as a silver bullet. Presented as a necessary tool for innovation and tackling multiple global challenges, the truth is far more complex. Promoters of new digital technologies sometimes use this narrative of being indispensable in order to propel corporate and political agendas and consolidate economic and political power.
Technologies are not mute objects. Their development, sale and use are inextricably tied up with economic and political interests, cultural meaning, different knowledges and human relationships. We now see this playing out in agriculture as biodigital technology entrench themselves as an essential resource for farmers in Europe (and elsewhere) and shape key decisions over farming. In the process, the truly necessary things may be lost: peasant autonomy and the valuable knowledges and ways of knowing in peasant farming and agroecology risk being erased in favour of simplistic data-driven processes.
In this briefing published with FIAN International and the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience at Coventry University, we examine how Big Tech is making its footholds in agriculture and the friction of new digital technologies with peasant autonomy and agroecological practices in Europe. It is the result of a collective learning trajectory and we would like to thank the peasant farmers, pastoralists and critical allies for sharing their valuable reflections and insights.
