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Digital technologies are changing traditional agricultural practices. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has referred to this change as a revolution: "a 'digital agricultural revolution' will be the newest shift that could help ensure agriculture meets the needs of the global population into the future."[2] Other sources refer to this change as "Agriculture 4.0," indicating its role as the fourth major agricultural revolution.[7] Precise dates of the Fourth Agricultural Revolution are unclear. The World Economic Forum announced that the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" (which includes agriculture) will unfold throughout the 21st century, so the beginning of Agriculture 4.0 is often placed around 2000 or shortly thereafter.[8][9]
Agricultural revolutions denote periods of technological transformation and increased farm productivity.[10] Agricultural revolutions include the First Agricultural Revolution, the Arab Agricultural Revolution, the British/Second Agricultural Revolution, the Scottish Agricultural Revolution, and the Green Revolution/Third Agricultural Revolution. Despite boosting agricultural productivity, past agricultural revolutions left many problems unsolved. For example, the Green Revolution had unintended consequences, like inequality and environmental damage. First, the Green Revolution exacerbated inter-farm and interregional inequality,[11] typically biased toward large farmers with the capital to invest in new technologies.[12] Second, critics say its policies promoted heavy input use and dependence on agrochemicals, which led to adverse environmental effects like soil degradation and chemical runoff.[13][14] Digital agriculture technologies have the potential to address negative side effects of the Green Revolution.
In some ways, the Digital Agriculture Revolution follows patterns of previous agricultural revolutions. Scholars forecast a further shift away from labor, a slight shift away from capital, and intensified use of human capital, continuing the trend the British Agricultural Revolution started.[15][16] Also, many predict that social backlash, possibly around the use of artificial intelligence or robots, will arise with the fourth revolution.[17][18][19][20]
In other ways, the Digital Agriculture Revolution is distinct from its predecessors. First, digital technologies will affect all parts of the agricultural value chain, including off-farm segments.[21][22] This differs from the first three agricultural revolutions, which primarily impacted production techniques and on-farm technologies. Second, a farmer's role will require more data analytics skills and less physical interaction with livestock/fields.[23][24][22][25] Third, although farming has always relied on empirical evidence, the volume of data and the methods of analysis will undergo drastic changes in the digital revolution.[16][26] For example, smart farm systems continuously monitor animal behavior, giving insight into their activities at all times.[27] Finally, increased reliance on big data may increase the power differential between farmers and information service providers,[21][28] or between farmers and large value chain actors (like supermarkets).[21]
