A wave of innovation driven by the convergence of digital and molecular technologies is transforming food production and ways of eating in the US, Western Europe and Australasia. This book explores a range of contemporary agri-food issues, such as the digitalisation of farm production, aka Precision Agriculture, farmer independence, gene editing, alternative proteins and the rise of app-based home food deliveries.
This is the first book to provide a systemic analysis of technological innovation and its socio-economic consequences in modern food systems, including the ‘hollowing out’ of rural communities and pronounced industrial concentration. The food system is under growing public pressure to respond to global climate change, but this book finds little evidence of transition to sustainable low-carbon trajectories.
Table of Content
1. Technological Convergence and Change in Modern Food Systems
2. Precision Agriculture: Big Data Analytics, Farm Support Platforms and Concentration in the Ag Tech Space
3. Precision Agriculture: Adoption, ‘Re-scripting’, Farmer Identity, Path Dependence and ‘Appropriationism 4.0’
4. Alternative Proteins: Bio-mimicry, Structuring the New Protein Industry. ‘Promissory Narratives’. and ‘Substitutionism 4.0’
5. The failed Promises of the Seed-Chemical Complex, CRISPR and Gene Editing, and Regulatory Capture
6. Between Physical Space and Digital Space: Changing Patterns of Food Provisioning, COVID-19 and Platform Capitalism
7. Conclusion and Postscript: Continuities in Change and Lost Opportunities
About the author
David Goodman is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz. He is co-editor of the Food and Society book series.
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