IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i5p2521-d506279.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Expert Insights on the Impacts of, and Potential for, Agricultural Big Data

Author

Listed:
  • Rim Lassoued

    (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8, Canada)

  • Diego M. Macall

    (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8, Canada)

  • Stuart J. Smyth

    (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8, Canada)

  • Peter W. B. Phillips

    (The Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B8, Canada)

  • Hayley Hesseln

    (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8, Canada)

Abstract

Advanced digital technologies are rapidly permeating agriculture from laboratory to field. Machine-based breeding, robotics and big data technologies have deeply transformed not only production systems but also the way scientific research is conducted. How are digital applications revolutionizing people’s jobs and skills? What are the challenges and opportunities for managing and sharing agricultural big data? This article addresses these and other questions by surveying international experts in plant biotechnology. Results show that digital innovations in the form of decision-support tools are perceived as promising. Most surveyed experts anticipate the deployment of big data analytics and artificial intelligence to boost agricultural productivity. Another key finding is that substantial physical investment, specialized human capital and effective data governance are critical to successful implementation of technological innovations associated with big data.

Suggested Citation

  • Rim Lassoued & Diego M. Macall & Stuart J. Smyth & Peter W. B. Phillips & Hayley Hesseln, 2021. "Expert Insights on the Impacts of, and Potential for, Agricultural Big Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2521-:d:506279
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2521/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2521/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keith H Coble & Ashok K Mishra & Shannon Ferrell & Terry Griffin, 2018. "Big Data in Agriculture: A Challenge for the Future," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 40(1), pages 79-96.
    2. Griffin, Terry W. & Mark, Tyler B. & Ferrell, Shannon & Janzen, Todd & Ibendahl, Gregory & Bennett, Jeff D. & Maurer, Jacob L. & Shanoyan, Aleksan, 2016. "Big Data Considerations for Rural Property Professionals," Journal of the ASFMRA, American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, vol. 2016.
    3. Maya Gopal P.S. & Bhargavi Renta Chintala, 2020. "Big Data Challenges and Opportunities in Agriculture," International Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Information Systems (IJAEIS), IGI Global, vol. 11(1), pages 48-66, January.
    4. Griffin, Terry W. & Mark, Tyler B. & Ferrell, Shannon & Janzen, Todd & Ibendahl, Gregory & Bennett, Jeff D. & Maurer, Jacob L. & Shanoyan, Aleksan, 2016. "Big Data Considerations for Rural Property Professionals," Journal of the ASFMRA, American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, vol. 2015, pages 1-14.
    5. Tozer, Peter R., 2009. "Uncertainty and investment in precision agriculture - Is it worth the money?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 100(1-3), pages 80-87, April.
    6. Alfons Weersink & Evan Fraser & David Pannell & Emily Duncan & Sarah Rotz, 2018. "Opportunities and Challenges for Big Data in Agricultural and Environmental Analysis," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 19-37, October.
    7. Coble, Keith & Griffin, Terry & Ahearn, Mary & Ferrell, Shannon & McFadden, Jonathan & Sonka, Steve & Fulton, John, 2016. "Advancing U.S. Agricultural Competitiveness with Big Data and Agricultural Economic Market Information, Analysis, and Research," C-FARE Reports 249847, Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE).
    8. Whitacre, Brian E. & Mark, Tyler B. & Griffin, Terry W., 2014. "How Connected Are Our Farms?," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1-9.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Heiko Balzter & Mateus Macul & Beth Delaney & Kevin Tansey & Fernando Espirito-Santo & Chidiebere Ofoegbu & Sergei Petrovskii & Bernhard Forchtner & Nicholes Nicholes & Emilio Payo & Pat Heslop-Harris, 2023. "Loss and Damage from Climate Change: Knowledge Gaps and Interdisciplinary Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Abid Mehmood & Muneer Ahmad & Qazi Mudassar Ilyas, 2023. "On Precision Agriculture: Enhanced Automated Fruit Disease Identification and Classification Using a New Ensemble Classification Method," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Margot Luyckx & Leonie Reins, 2022. "The Future of Farming: The (Non)-Sense of Big Data Predictive Tools for Sustainable EU Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-17, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mark, Tyler B. & Griffin, Terry W. & Whitacre, Brian E., 2016. "The Role of Wireless Broadband Connectivity on ‘Big Data’ and the Agricultural Industry in the United States and Australia," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 19(A), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Jesse Tack & Keith H. Coble & Robert Johansson & Ardian Harri & Barry J. Barnett, 2019. "The Potential Implications of “Big Ag Data” for USDA Forecasts," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(4), pages 668-683, December.
    3. Robert Finger, 2023. "Digital innovations for sustainable and resilient agricultural systems," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 50(4), pages 1277-1309.
    4. Emily Duncan & Alesandros Glaros & Dennis Z. Ross & Eric Nost, 2021. "New but for whom? Discourses of innovation in precision agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(4), pages 1181-1199, December.
    5. Tan Wang & Xianbao Xu & Cong Wang & Zhen Li & Daoliang Li, 2021. "From Smart Farming towards Unmanned Farms: A New Mode of Agricultural Production," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-26, February.
    6. DeLay, Nathan & Comstock, Haden, 2021. "Recent Trends in PA Technology Adoption and Bundling in CornProduction: Implications for Farm Consolidation," Western Economics Forum, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 19(2), December.
    7. Claire Brown & Áine Regan & Simone van der Burg, 2023. "Farming futures: Perspectives of Irish agricultural stakeholders on data sharing and data governance," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(2), pages 565-580, June.
    8. Ehlers, Melf-Hinrich & Huber, Robert & Finger, Robert, 2021. "Agricultural policy in the era of digitalisation," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    9. Annie Royer & Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin & Ingrid Peignier & Thierry Warin & Molivann Panot & Christophe Mondin, 2020. "Les enjeux du numérique dans le secteur agricole - Défis et opportunités," CIRANO Project Reports 2020rp-12, CIRANO.
    10. LoPiccalo, Katherine, 2022. "Impact of broadband penetration on U.S. Farm productivity: A panel approach," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(9).
    11. Johanna Pfeiffer & Andreas Gabriel & Markus Gandorfer, 2021. "Understanding the public attitudinal acceptance of digital farming technologies: a nationwide survey in Germany," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(1), pages 107-128, February.
    12. Li, Lei & Lin, Jiabao & Ouyang, Ye & Luo, Xin (Robert), 2022. "Evaluating the impact of big data analytics usage on the decision-making quality of organizations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    13. Basharat Ali & Peter Dahlhaus, 2022. "Roles of Selective Agriculture Practices in Sustainable Agricultural Performance: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-15, March.
    14. Mark, Tyler & Griffin, Terry, 2016. "Defining the Barriers to Telematics for Precision Agriculture: Connectivity Supply and Demand," 2016 Annual Meeting, February 6-9, 2016, San Antonio, Texas 230090, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    15. Wynn, Katherine & Spangenberg, German & Smith, Kevin & Wilson, William, 2017. "Valuing Genetically Modified Traits in Canola Using Real Options," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 42(2), May.
    16. Mohammad Amiri-Zarandi & Rozita A. Dara & Emily Duncan & Evan D. G. Fraser, 2022. "Big Data Privacy in Smart Farming: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, July.
    17. Tal Ben-Zvi & Jerry Luftman, 2022. "Post-Pandemic IT: Digital Transformation and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-11, November.
    18. Komarek, Adam M. & De Pinto, Alessandro & Smith, Vincent H., 2020. "A review of types of risks in agriculture: What we know and what we need to know," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    19. Curtiss, Jarmila & Jelinek, Ladislav, 2012. "Cost Efficiency and Farm Self-selection in Precision Farming: The Case of Czech Wheat Production," 131st Seminar, September 18-19, 2012, Prague, Czech Republic 135784, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Takácsné György, Katalin & Lámfalusi, Ibolya & Molnár, András & Sulyok, Dénes & Gaál, Márta & Keményné horváth, Zsuzsanna & Domán, Csaba & Illés, Ivett & Kiss, Andrea & Péter, Krisztina & Kemény, Gábo, 2018. "Precision agriculture in Hungary: assessment of perceptions and accounting records of FADN arable farms," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 120(1), April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2521-:d:506279. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.