Smart Solutions in AgriTech: Research Trajectories in the Digital Transition

The following study investigates and identifies research trajectories pertaining to the digital transition of agriculture and food production. While a vast amount of research aims to discover new technologies, or to apply them in novel ways, their large-scale implications as regards data ownership and data governance are relatively overlooked. Regulatory interventions are demanded to steer data ownership and data governance towards the ‘common good’. It is thus necessary to identify how research can contribute to the discussion on sensitive areas of policymaking that have been the object of environmental regulation, including the EU Green Deal and UN Sustainable Development Goals. In the light of this necessity, this paper identifies issues with ethical relevance emerging from the adoption of new technologies in agritech, including Artificial Intelligence techniques and Internet of Things applications. To do so, this study attempts to systematise and categorise existing research trends by clearly identifying their scope and understanding the relationships that exist among them. The results of this enquiry show that five interconnected research trajectories- namely, technical solutions, data governance, data ownership, ethics and law- can foster the discussion on agritech transition. The connections between these research areas can be understood in terms of a descriptive and a prescriptive perspective.