Steering smart farming technology adoption toward a safe and just operating space

Abstract

Smart farming is transforming agricultural systems. Innovations such as precision farming, robotics, and AI-driven applications are known as agriculture’s fourth revolution which may provide socioeconomic, and environmental benefits. However, adoption rates remain below socially desirable levels due to, amongst others, a lack of return relative to required risks, and costs. We propose the “Safe and Just Operating Space” (SJOS) concept as a normative framework to steer regional and sector-specific policy incentives toward the most impactful technologies regarding urgent socio-environmental needs. This is the first time that the SJOS concept is applied to designing regional policies to induce the most impactful smart farming. Proposing a new type of decision-making framework is highly relevant to policymakers, researchers, and industry stakeholders interested in policies to govern novel technologies. Our blueprint outlines the application, discusses the advantages and limitations, and highlights the required research needs for policy implementation. Four implementation steps are required to apply the SJOS concept to smart technology in agricultural systems: 1) downscaling and disaggregating environmental and socio-economic conditions to define case-specific regional Safe and Just boundaries for the agricultural sector, 2) scoring the regional status quo, 3) evaluating individual smart technologies in terms of the different Safe and Just indicators, and 4) creating the Safe and Just synthesis to enable technology prioritization and target-oriented policy action. Our framework is globally applicable and ensures that technology deployment is effective in terms of timing, location, and application, enabling the attainment of a socially desirable level of technology use.