Responsible Innovation for High-tech Agriculture: Social-Ethical issues in Smart Farming Technologies
Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
Guest Editors: Vincent Blok (Wageningen University) Bernice Bovenkerk (Wageningen University) Bart Gremmen (Wageningen University)
Context and Aims: Farmers are increasingly deploying innovative high technological measures in order to improve agricultural efficiency, sustainability, and/or animal health and welfare. So-called Smart Farming Technologies integrate smart technology and the internet of things: Computers, sensoring devices, GPS systems but also robots and even animals communicate with one another and function autonomously in an integrated farm management system. Through this system, climate smart agriculture can be achieved; farmers reduce farm inputs (fertilizers and pesticides) and increase yields, while reducing emissions to the environment (Bos and Munnichs, 2016; Blok and Gremmen, 2016). In the context of animal agriculture, the internet of things is extended to farm animals in Precision Livestock Farming (PLF). PLF can be defined as “the management of livestock production using the principles and technology of process engineering. ... PLF treats livestock production as a set of interlinked processes, which act together in a complex network” (Wathes et al., 2008). Despite the economic, social and environmental opportunities for the agricultural sector that are provided by Smart Farming Technologies, they also raise ethical issues associated with the increased corporatization and industrialization of the agricultural sector. Smart Farming Technologies appear to imply further intensification of agriculture, including the use of genetic modification and monoculture crops. PLF facilitates the further intensification of livestock farming and the emergence of mega stalls with various socioethical consequences (Bos and Gremmen, 2013; Harfeld, 2010). An ethical issue this raises, for example, is the possible alienation between animals, farmers and citizens because of the
robotization and digitalization of farm management systems. Because of these social-ethical issues, society is reluctant to accept smart farming technologies. While animal and environmental ethicists have already looked at many of these socialethical issues in isolation, an extra dimension is added when we analyse the systemic changes brought about by high tech farming. For example, the use of milking robots may improve animal welfare by causing less handling stress, but coupled with increasing digitalisation, it may lead to an instrumental attitude towards cows. As such, farmers and smart farming technology developers have an impact on the design and function of these technologies, and on the social-ethical issues that result from them. The emerging concept of Responsible Innovation may provide a framework to systematically consider these social-ethical issues of smart farming technology and to embed high-tech agriculture better in society. Responsible Innovation is broadly defined as “a collective commitment of care for the future through responsive stewardship of science and innovation in the present” (Owen et al., 2013: 36). Although the concept is rather new and still under development, it is generally accepted that it concerns a framework for science and innovation for society and with society (Blok and Lemmens, 2015). By integrating values in technological design (van den Hoven, 2013), anticipating risks and negative impacts, reflection on the purpose and societal contribution of technology etc., responsible innovation aims to contribute to innovations which are sustainable, societal desirable and ethical acceptable (von Schomberg, 2013). As such, responsible innovation may offer a framework for the identification, assessment and possible solution of social-ethical issues in high-tech farming in general, and in smart farming technologies development in particular. To date, however, the focus of the literature is mainly on controversial technologies like nanotechnology and synthetic biology, while the experience in the agricultural sector is still limited. This special issue of Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics aims to explore the way responsible innovation for climate smart agriculture can be achieved. How can the framework of responsible innovation shed a new light on social-ethical issues in smart farming technologies – both in animal farming and in agriculture more generally? General questions to be addressed are the following: What are particular social-ethical issues related to high-tech agriculture? Does the concept of responsible innovation help to identify and solve social-ethical issues in high-tech agriculture? Does the application of responsible innovation frameworks help to better embed smart farming technologies in society?
Particular themes and questions that may be addressed are the following: 1. The human - animal relationship: •
How does high-tech agriculture change the relationship between humans and animals?
•
What responsibilities do farmers have and what responsibilities lie with the consumer or citizen?
•
Do smart farming technologies, Precision Livestock Farming and the digitalisation of agriculture turn animals into objects?
2. Agricultural perspectives: •
Do smart farming technologies imply industrial farming, or can organic farmers also benefit from them?
•
Can the RI framework deal with disagreements surrounding the use of genetically modified crops?
3. Value conflicts: •
What value conflicts arise from the implementation of high technology in agriculture and how should we deal with them?
4. Welfare & One Health: •
What role can smart technology play in the improvement of animal welfare?
•
How can the One Health framework be applied in high-tech agriculture?
Contributions are invited to reflect on these and other issues from various perspectives (e.g. responsible innovation, technology assessment, animal welfare, environmental ethics etc.).
Submission Process and Deadlines Papers will be reviewed following the JAGE double-blind review process. Papers should be submitted by the December 1, 2018 deadline (https://www.editorialmanager.com/jage/default.aspx) with clear reference to the special issue ‘Responsible Innovation for High-tech Agriculture’. Papers should be prepared using the JAGE Guidelines. As soon as the papers are accepted for publication, they will be published and accessible online. The publication of the complete special volume is scheduled for November 2019. The editors welcome informal enquiries related to proposed topics. For this, please contact Vincent Blok (
[email protected]).
Contact Email: Corresponding Guest Editor: Vincent Blok, Wageningen University, The Netherlands (
[email protected])
References: Blok, V., 2018. “Beyond technocratic management in the food chain. Towards a new responsible professionalism in the Anthropocene”. Proceedings of the EURSAFE conference 2018 (forthcoming). Blok, V., Gremmen, B. 2016. “Ecological Innovation: Biomimicry as a New Way of Thinking and Acting Ecologically”. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 29:203– 217 Blok, V., Lemmens, P. 2015. “The Emerging Concepts of Responsible Innovation. Three Reasons why It Is Questionable and Calls for a Radical Transoformation of the Concept of Innovation”. In B. Koops, I. Oosterlaken, J. van den Hoven, H. Romijn, & T. Swierstra, Responsible Innovation 2: Concepts, Approaches, and Applications (pp. 19-35). Dordrecht: Springer International Publishing. Bos, J., Gremmen, B. 2013. “Does PLF turn animals into objects?” Precision Livestock Farming 2013. Leuven: EC-PLF Bos, J., Munnichs, G. 2016. Digitalisering van Dieren. Verkenning Precision Livestock Farming. Den Haag: Rathenau. Harfeld, J., 2010. “Husbandry to industry: Animal Agriculture, Ethics and Public Policy”. Between the Species X: 132-162. Hoven, J., 2013. “Value Sensitive Design and Responsible Innovation”. In: Owen, R., J. Bessant and M. Heintz (eds.) Responsible innovation. John Wiley and Sons Ltd., London, UK, 75-84. Owen, R., Stilgoe, J., Macnaghten, P., Gorman, M., Fisher, E., & Gustion, D. 2013. “A Framework for Responsible Innovation”. In: Owen, R., J. Bessant and M. Heintz (eds.) Responsible innovation. John Wiley and Sons Ltd., London, UK, 27-50 Reichardt, M., Jürgens, C., Klöbe, U., Hüter, J., Moser, K. 2009. „Dissemination of precision farming in Germany: acceptance, adoption, obstacles, knowledge transfer and training activities”, Precision Agriculture 10: 525-545. Von Schomberg, R., 2013. “A vision of responsible research and innovation”. In: Owen, R., J. Bessant and M. Heintz (eds.) Responsible innovation. John Wiley and Sons Ltd., London, UK, pp. 51-74.
Wathes, H.H., Kristensen, J.M., Berckmans, D. 2008. “Is precision livestock farming an engineer’s daydream or nightmare, and animal’s friend or foe, and a farmer’s panacea or pitfall?”. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 64: 2-10.
