This discussion note aims to inform current and future policy discussions to advance technologies that are ecologically, socially, and economically beneficial and uphold the public interest.
Policy in BC and Canada is increasingly advancing agritech as a solution to many of the challenges facing contemporary agriculture: Emerging capital intensive, proprietary agricultural technologies (agritech) are being proposed to address a wide range of challenges including labour shortages, food security, resource stress, climate change, etc.
At the same time, there are concerns that “fourth wave” technologies are positioned to deepen inequities in the food system and that technological intervention alone is an insufficient strategy to achieve the proposed ecological and economic goals.
This note provides a high-level summary of agritech benefits and concerns based on historical precedents, presents a framework to highlight the ecological, social and economic impacts of agritech interventions, and discusses key principles to guide related policy development.
Toward Ecologically, Economically and Socially Beneficial Agricultural Technology Adoption in BC
