Automated pastures and the digital divide: How agricultural technologies are shaping labour and rural communities
Summary. Agricultural digitalization in North America, particularly Canada, is reshaping farm labour and rural communities through automation, sensors, and artificial intelligence. The paper identifies three critical tensions: rising land costs paired with automation reducing labour demand, creation of a bifurcated labour market with few high-skill and many low-skill jobs, and corporate control of farm data. Using a social justice lens, the authors argue that digital technologies intensify exploitation of marginalized agricultural workers and deepen rural inequality, calling for policy and research to redirect digitalization toward supporting both food production and vulnerable farm labourers.
Cite this article
Rotz, S., Gravely, E., Mosby, I., Duncan, E., Finnis, E., Horgan, M., LeBlanc, J., Martin, R. C., Neufeld, H. T., Nixon, A., Pant, L. P., Shalla, V., & Fraser, E.. (2019). Automated pastures and the digital divide: How agricultural technologies are shaping labour and rural communities. Journal of Rural Studies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.01.023
Rotz, Sarah, et al. “Automated pastures and the digital divide: How agricultural technologies are shaping labour and rural communities.” Journal of Rural Studies, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.01.023.
Rotz, Sarah, Evan Gravely, Ian Mosby, Emily Duncan, Elizabeth Finnis, Mervyn Horgan, Joseph LeBlanc, et al.. 2019. “Automated pastures and the digital divide: How agricultural technologies are shaping labour and rural communities.” Journal of Rural Studies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.01.023.
@article{rotz-2019-automated-pastures-digital-divide-how,
title = {Automated pastures and the digital divide: How agricultural technologies are shaping labour and rural communities},
author = {Sarah Rotz and Evan Gravely and Ian Mosby and Emily Duncan and Elizabeth Finnis and Mervyn Horgan and Joseph LeBlanc and Ralph C. Martin and Hannah Tait Neufeld and Andrew Nixon and Laxmi Prasad Pant and Vivian Shalla and Evan Fraser},
journal = {Journal of Rural Studies},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.01.023},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.01.023}
}
TY - JOUR TI - Automated pastures and the digital divide: How agricultural technologies are shaping labour and rural communities AU - Sarah Rotz AU - Evan Gravely AU - Ian Mosby AU - Emily Duncan AU - Elizabeth Finnis AU - Mervyn Horgan AU - Joseph LeBlanc AU - Ralph C. Martin AU - Hannah Tait Neufeld AU - Andrew Nixon AU - Laxmi Prasad Pant AU - Vivian Shalla AU - Evan Fraser JO - Journal of Rural Studies PY - 2019 DO - 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.01.023 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.01.023 ER -
Details
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.01.023
- Countries
- Canada, United States
- Regions
- North America
- Categories
- agtech, policy, rural-data-and-definitions
- Added
- 2026-04-28