Digital technologies in animal farming are presented as solutions to urgent challenges in post-Brexit British agricultural policy, including increasing productivity and climate change adaptation. Yet evidence suggests technological solutions to agricultural challenges will be less affective without stakeholder and public engagement in the technology development process. We conducted focus groups with expert stakeholders in British animal farming to explore their views on digital livestock technologies. This research indicates that stakeholders in agroecological farming feel excluded from digital technology development, while stakeholdersā support for digital technologies more broadly was dependent on the purpose, the practicality and the potential effects of the technology. We conclude that considering purpose, practicality and effects of technologies provides a guide for policymakers, researchers and technology developers to identify where additional stakeholder engagement is needed in the development process.
This research has been published in Sociologia Ruralis. A poster presenting the results can also be viewed on Zenodo.