“The gains claimed by the promoters of precision farming are very considerable. Satellite farming companies argue that their observations enable exact and profitable decisions to be made about the application of chemicals. But, as James Addicott’s research suggests, this form of 'scientific farming' is very problematic. Control over satellite farming has dispensed with the farmers' more local and 'tacit' understandings. Knowledge of a more general and universal kind is made to prevail. Meanwhile, farmers are faced by the competing technologies offered by precision farming corporations. As a result, farmers struggle with a range of incompatible products. This book shows that power and influence is being transferred away from the farmer and towards the big, unaccountable, trans-national ‘precision farming’ offered by corporations.” (Peter Dickens, University of Cambridge, UK)
“This book connects debates and issues around precision farming technologies to show that farmers’ engagement with these technologies is influenced, but not exclusively determined, by economic and food-productivity factors. As a social scientist, James Addicott makes a clear case for factors other than just ‘efficiency’ playing a role in the adoption of precision farming. It is a must read for all students in the food and agriculture sector who seek to gain a balanced, realist understanding of how the global Precision Farming Revolution shapes and is shaped by the active agency of local farmers.” (Gert Spaargaren, Wageningen University, The Netherlands)