In 2023 CCRI hosted Professor Ruth Nettle, Leader of the Rural Innovation Research Group, at the University of Melbourne who was undertaking an OECD Cooperative Research Programme fellowship, working with Julie Ingram.
The topic was Smart farming technologies (SFTs), digital tools and transformation in the work of farmers and advisers: Implications for technology adoption and policy and the research involved interviewing farmers, advisers, agri-tech company representatives and policy makers in the UK and Australia, and hosting a policy workshop. The research found significant work (workload, duration, skills) implications of implementing SFTs on farm for both farmers and advisers.
Two papers have now been published from this research.
Nettle, R., Ingram, J. and Ayre, M. 2025. Digiwork: How Agriculture 4.0 is changing work for farm advisers. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1542007
Nettle, R. and Ingram, J. 2025. Smart farming technologies and changes to farm work: New insights into on-farm experiences. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0040-1625(25)00258-6
To disseminate these findings, Julie Ingram was invited to present research which examined Smart Farming Technologies (SFTs) and the implications for advisers’ work at the OECD’s Farm Level Analysis Network 35th meeting in June 2025. Julie presented the findings in the session entitled ‘the role of farm advisory services in achieving farm sustainability’. The full agenda for the meeting can be viewed here.
This research observed a number of changes to adviser work in the UK and Australia including: the diversity of advisory roles (digital specialists, field specialists, agri-tech intermediaries, facilitators and knowledge brokers); demands in work duration and changes in work efficiency and effectiveness; increased workload in learning and developing new knowledge and skills and in the work of building and adapting advisory business models fit for smart farming.
