University of Tasmania
Browse
Main document_revised_FINAL.docx (110.52 kB)

Framing agri‐digital governance: industry stakeholders, technological frames and smart farming implementation

Download (110.52 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 14:29 authored by Vaughan HigginsVaughan Higgins, Melanie BryantMelanie Bryant
Meso-scale actors – such as farm advisors and other extension agents – are increasingly recognised as playing a critical role in managing farmer uncertainty associated with smart farming implementation. However, there has been limited research to date on how these actors navigate smart farming implementation within specific industries or commodity sectors. This article applies theoretical insights from the technological frames literature to investigate how meso-scale actors in the Australian rice industry frame smart farming technology implementation, and the ways in which relationships between frames variously afford and/or constrain industry sovereignty over implementation of technological change. Through analysis of our data, we reveal a complex relationship between participants’ technological frames involving frame incongruence, frame ambivalence and frame switching. We argue that while development of a more integrated approach to enhancing the digital capacities of meso-scale actors advocated in the literature provides a way of addressing frame incongruence, more flexible strategies may be needed to address frame ambivalence and switching. Furthermore, we contend that those frame relationships supporting industry sovereignty – namely frame ambivalence and switching – may not always be conducive to the promotion of digital agency among meso-scale actors, and could in fact impose limits on smart farming implementation.

History

Publication title

Sociologia Ruralis

Volume

60

Pagination

438-457

ISSN

0038-0199

Department/School

School of Social Sciences

Publisher

Blackwell Publ Ltd

Place of publication

108 Cowley Rd, Oxford, England, Oxon, Ox4 1Jf

Rights statement

© 2020 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis © 2020 European Society for Rural Sociology. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Higgins, V. and Bryant, M. (2020), Framing Agri‐Digital Governance: Industry Stakeholders, Technological Frames and Smart Farming Implementation. Sociologia Ruralis, 60: 438-457, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12297. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in human society

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Categories

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC