For centuries, farmers have looked attentively at the sky and the earth to interpret the signs nature provides when they are working their fields. This ancestral knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation and adapted to the introduction of new machinery, new crops and new demands. However, some current digitization initiatives radically transform farmers' work, creating tension and resistance.

This is the conclusion of the study, published as open access, "In agriculture 1+1 does not equal 2: Re-configurations and frictions around the implementation of the Digital Farm Book", by Paloma Yáñez Serrano and Lucía Argüelles Ramos, researchers from the Urban Transformation and Global Change Laboratory (TURBA Lab) group.

In their research, Yáñez and Argüelles analyse how the implementation of the Digital Farm Book (a mandatory tool in Spain in which farmers must record information about their activity) forces them to adapt agricultural work to data-driven administrative models. This digitization, driven by European policies and linked to the green and digital transitions, clashes with the knowledge and practices of farmers and is transforming the agricultural sector.

The paper argues that the digitization of the countryside has a significant impact, and should therefore be approached in a way that incorporates farmers' knowledge, their needs and the essence of farming practice.


Digitization not adapted to farming

To understand how digitization is transforming the agricultural sector, the researchers opted for a qualitative methodology. They conducted 25 interviews with farmers, technicians, technology developers and government officials, visited farms, spent time with farmers and observed first-hand how they used the Digital Farm Book.

"What we wanted was to observe, close up, how these tools are adopted, resisted, adapted or even rejected, and what kind of knowledge and relationships are displaced or reconfigured in the process," Yáñez and Argüelles explained. Their main conclusion is that the conflict lies in the tension between two ways of understanding agricultural knowledge.

"The Digital Book is based on the logic of standardization, calculation and automation, typical of a technocratic vision that considers that what can't be measured doesn't exist. But for many farmers, their knowledge comes not from tables or algorithms, but from the body, the senses, and the experience they've accumulated," the researchers explained. "They know when to water crops because they smell the soil, when to harvest because they see the colour of the fruit change or feel the texture of the leaves. This tacit, sensory knowledge has no place in the Digital Book, and this generates a great sense of distrust, of feeling displaced by a system that tries to control them without recognizing or respecting what they know and how they've learned it."

"One of the most illustrative examples we came across is that of an Andalusian farmer who produces his own compost. He told us that he knows when to apply fertilizer from the smell: 'I go by the smell. You can't visualize a smell. That's why I say that data don't work for everything'. This phrase nicely sums up the conflict between sensory and intuitive logic and a tool that only allows for things that are quantifiable," they added.

Many of the farmers participating in the study noted that they find it rigid and impractical to enter everything they do on the land in the Book. This requires time and knowledge of computers and bureaucracy, which not all farmers have and some are unwilling to acquire. As a result, many end up delegating this task to specialists or advisers, which creates new dependencies.

However, this does not mean that farmers reject digital tools or data collection outright. It is, above all, the rigidity and standardization of the Digital Book that makes its adoption and integration difficult. "During our research, we met a farmer who, for 20 years, has kept his own records in an Excel spreadsheet specially adapted to his way of working, and others who use their mobile phones to photograph sowing, harvesting and other important activities, to keep records that have a personal meaning. These examples show that farmers aren't against technology, but seek tools that respect and complement their knowledge and ways of doing things," Yáñez and Argüelles explained.


Impact on working practices, social and cultural effects
One of the main conclusions of the TURBA LAB researchers' work is that the use of the Digital Farm Book generates significant impacts on the world of agriculture that go beyond undermining knowledge based on experience. It produces a shift in the role of the farmer toward a more technical-administrative profile and may accelerate the trend towards the concentration of agricultural activity.

It also brings about a change in the concept of sustainability. "Sustainability moves from specific practices (such as crop rotation or the use of non-synthetic pesticides) and standards (such as organic farming) to accounting for inputs and outputs and creating indicators. We've seen how friction can arise between those who defend these two visions," said Yáñez and Argüelles, who are attached to the UOC-TRÀNSIC research centre.


A critical proposal
The researchers propose solutions to turn this situation around. "We believe the key is to recognize farmers as co-producers of knowledge and not merely as passive users. To achieve this, it's essential to design digital tools that can be adapted to the realities of farming, and not the other way around. This involves designing platforms jointly with the farmers themselves, respecting their different practices, crops and situations," they explained.

"It's important for the tools to be flexible and accessible, and to incorporate non-quantitative forms of knowledge: visual records, narrative descriptions, local criteria. We also need to question the idea that sustainability can only be achieved through numerical indicators. Agroecological practices, for example, are sustainable by definition, although they don't always fit into the Digital Book's parameters," they added.

The researchers propose tools that record experiences using sound or images and that recognize the diversity of languages and different ways of naming things, for example. Above all, we need solutions that not only have an administrative purpose, but also help farmers in their decision-making.

"We hope this work will help to stimulate a dialogue with institutions and developers so that we can work together to develop ways to digitize agriculture that are fairer, more democratic and better contextualized. It's not about saying yes or no to technology itself, but rather about asking ourselves what kind of digitization we want, what technologies, who for, and for what purposes," they concluded.


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