1887

OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers

NB. No. 1 to No. 58 were released under the previous series title OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Working Papers.

English

The digitalisation of agriculture

A literature review and emerging policy issues

Digitalisation offers the potential to help address the productivity, sustainability and resilience challenges facing agriculture. Evidence on the adoption and impacts of digital agriculture in OECD countries from national surveys and the literature indicates broad use of digital technologies in row crop farms, but less evidence is available on uptake for livestock and speciality crops. Common barriers to adoption include costs (up-front investment and recurring maintenance expenses), relevance and limited use cases, user-friendliness, high operator skill requirements, mistrust of algorithms, and technological risk. National governments have an important role in addressing bottlenecks to adoption, such as by ensuring better information about costs and benefits of various technologies (including intangible benefits such as quality of life improvements); investing in human capital; ensuring appropriate incentives for innovation; serving as knowledge brokers and facilitators of data-sharing to spur inclusive, secure and representative data ecosystems; and promoting competitive markets.

English

Keywords: Barriers to adoption, Productivity, Precision agriculture, Risk management, Sustainability
JEL: Q12: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Agriculture / Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets; Q15: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Agriculture / Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment; O33: Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth / Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights / Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes; Q16: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Agriculture / R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services; L79: Industrial Organization / Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction / Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction: Other
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