Investigating narratives and trends in digital agriculture: A scoping study of social and behavioural science studies.

Narratives dominate the agricultural discourse that digitalisation is the 'silver bullet' to agricultural, environmental, and global issues, resulting in an external push towards automation and a rapid increase in digital technologies in the sector. Concentrated productivist views and techno-optimist hype and momentum is carrying us briskly towards a digital farming revolution, with little conversation or consideration of the social impacts of digitalisation. The application of social science research to digital agriculture is relatively new and the pace at which it has been developing to keep up with digital advances in the sector has left this body of literature scattered and lacking sufficient overview. To address this, a scoping study was conducted on social and behavioural science literature related to digital agriculture. This scoping study, which incorporates 200 references, pays particular attention to stakeholder engagement and how agricultural digitalisation has been developing. This methodology enables us to provide an extensive overview of this field of research, presenting key themes pertaining to the literature including barriers and facilitators of, as well as anticipated positive and negative impacts of digital technology adoption. We find that whilst there has been a general win-win, techno-positive narrative in the agricultural sector, proof of these benefits is limited and some technologies are eliciting negative effects to its users, transforming the landscape of agriculture. In order to be responsive to these negative consequences, it is important that we turn our attention upstream to examine how technologies are designed and developed for use in an agricultural context. This can be achieved by integrating more inclusive approaches to technology design. These approaches will help to mitigate negative effects of technologies, help to create successful and responsible innovations, tackle low adoption issues, and help to create more responsible digital futures. [Display omitted] • There is a lack of overview of how digital agriculture is developing. • A scoping study was conducted on 200 social science papers relative to digital agriculture. • Digital technologies elicit both positive and negative effects. • Stakeholder engagement is predominantly used to examine or establish reasons as to why farmers are not adopting technology. • A more inclusive approach to technology design and development is needed to mitigate negative effects of technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]