Fixing food with a limited menu: on (digital) solutionism in the agri-food tech sector

Julie Guthman () and Michaelanne Butler ()
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Julie Guthman: University of California
Michaelanne Butler: University of California

Agriculture and Human Values, 2023, vol. 40, issue 3, No 4, 835-848

Abstract: Abstract Silicon Valley and its innovation center counterparts have come upon food and agriculture as the next frontier for their unique style of innovation and impact. But what exactly can the tech sector, with expertise in information and communication technologies, bring to a domain in which the biophysical materiality of soil, plants, animals and human bodies have most challenged farmers and food companies? Based on a detailed analysis of all of the companies that have pitched their products at events sponsored by the Silicon Valley-based convener, Foodbytes!, we show that a large proportion of tech-driven solutions are digital technologies transferred from other domains. These technologies at best inform decision-making on the ecological processes of food and farming, but do not provide tools to treat them, and otherwise provide business solutions not even aimed at major challenges in food and farming. Drawing on a small set of interview data, we additionally suggest that tech entrepreneurs migrate to food and agriculture because it seems purposeful, exciting, or lucrative, but sometimes lack a clear understanding of the problems they might solve with their digital technologies. In making our case about the mismatch of problem and solution, we bring into conversation recent critiques of digital solutionism with abiding concerns in agrarian political economy and critical food studies regarding the role of the biological in both challenging food production and spurring technological intervention.

Keywords: Agricultural technology; Food technology; Appropriationism; Substitutionism; Techno-solutionism; Silicon Valley (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10460-023-10416-8

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