BY CAMILLE SACHS
Camille Sachs is a first-year student in the International Development program at SAIS Bologna and an editor for SAIS Perspectives.
Professor Andrea Renda, Senior Research Fellow and Head of Global Governance, Regulation, Innovation and the Digital Economy (GRID) at the Center for European Policy Studies, Belgium, spoke as part of the Identity in the Age of Globalization series hosted by the Bologna Institute for Policy Research.
He is currently a non-resident Senior Fellow at Duke University's Kenan Institute for Ethics, and has held the Google Chair for Digital Innovation at the College of Europe in Bruges since 2017. Specializing in EU law and policymaking, his current research interests include regulation and policy evaluation, regulatory governance, private regulation, innovation and competition policies, internet policy, and the alignment of policies for long-term impacts such as sustainability and decarbonization.
His talk focused on the use of technology throughout the agricultural production chain and the risks it poses. A brief overview of his presentation follows, along with an interview focused on regulatory risks and opportunities.
What is Agritech?
Agricultural technology, or agritech, is not the innovation of new foods and crops that can be grown more efficiently. Instead, it refers to the use of technology to improve and modernize the agrifood chain from farm to fork and make it more sustainable.
The Promise of Agritech
Agritech focuses on technologies that collect data in order to remove inefficiencies in production. Professor Renda argued that there are four key areas where digital technology can reduce waste along the agrifood chain: at the agricultural level, during transportation, at sales points, and with individual consumers. These include technologies focused on increasing the precision of agriculture, such as field sensors, drones, and other data-collecting devices that provide farmers with information necessary to maximize yields and minimize crop losses. Other technologies streamline the transportation and distribution of food, as well as reduce food waste at the point of sale by collecting more accurate data on consumer purchases. Finally, some agritech applications help consumers reduce waste in their individual food consumption.
The Need for Regulation
While digital technology shows promise in improving the long-term sustainability of agriculture, it is not without risk. New agritech innovations are typically owned by business giants such as Monsanto, Amazon, Google, John Deer, or IBM. Across the world, the last few decades have seen a gradual distancing of value creation and value extraction through greater digitalization and financialization in the agricultural sector. This distance could pose a serious risk for small-holder farms who do not own the data being collected by these large corporations through more aggressive pricing of necessary inputs, or the consolidation of data into privatized information channels.
In addition, there is still insufficient data on the carbon footprint of new technologies. It remains to be seen whether the shift in environmental impact of increased data usage will outweigh its benefits to food chains.
Perspectives: What sparked your interest in technological solutions to large-scale agricultural challenges?
Professor Renda: Digital technology can save almost anything, but it should not be taken for granted. It often comes with increased inequality and lack of social cohesion. Additionally, deep learning has an enormous carbon footprint. I am interested in whether we will be able to achieve technology’s promise.
Perspectives: What role do you see for NGOs in agricultural technology?
Professor Renda: NGOs should raise the awareness of policymakers to technological options. Their role is to bring the technology and its risks to policymakers. Further, INGOs are tasked with bringing together farmers and community stakeholders at the local level and aiding them in managing their data vis-à-vis the tech giants that are trying to gain ownership of this data.
Perspectives: What role do you see for multilateral organizations in managing technology and data advancement, particularly in low-income countries?
Professor Renda: Multilateral organizations have a key role to play in a number of aspects. First, they should be finding ways to enable data transfer. For example, the Democratic Republic of Congo needs technology deployed to small land-holders at prices that are regulated. Multilateral organizations also are crucial in reaching an agreement on ethical and sustainable purchase of technologies such as AI. The Global Partnership on AI is meant to bring resources and investment on artificial intelligence in ways that will benefit the Sustainable Development Goals. There is work being done to regulate these technologies by the UN and the OECD, but it is clear that we need to do more.
Unfortunately, one of the largest obstacles in creating strong multilateral agreements for sustainable technology development is the digital arms race between the US and China. There is more focus on cybersecurity than on anything else, and it is clear than unless the EU stands up to drive action further cooperation is unlikely to happen.
PHOTO CREDIT: "North Saanich" by BC Gov Photos is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0