Briefly describe your work with agtech and explain what motivates you to invest your time in this work.

I am interested in how agtech is positioned as supporting sustainability transitions, as well as what version of sustainability it is geared toward. I conducted research with Steven Wolf exploring the role of agtech intermediaries in sustainable food transitions with a focus on Social Alpha, a mission-oriented agtech intermediary based in India. I recently received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to research the sustainability implications of venture capital investments in agtech.

Briefly explain any commitments to sustainability that you or your organization bring to your work on agtech innovation. Be as specific as possible regarding what kinds of social and environmental impacts you aim to produce, and the relevant strategies you are pursuing.

I am based in the Faculty of Agriculture at Dalhousie University. It has traditionally been associated with producing research geared toward industrial methods of agricultural production. However, as part of its commitments to the SDGs, it is now encouraging research and practices geared towards sustainability.

Briefly describe the way(s) in which you assess/measure social and environmental impact in your work on agtech innovation.

So far I have mostly assessed how others measure social/environmental impacts as it relates to sustainable food systems.

Our research and this workshop aim to investigate tensions between the demands/imperatives of the tech-finance industry and the demands/imperatives of social-environmental problem solving. Please comment on this problem frame in general, and in relation to specific examples from your own experience.

In the paper Steven and I wrote on agtech intermediaries, we did find some tensions between commercial imperatives and sustainability goals. However, Social Alpha, the mission-oriented agtech intermediary in question, did have some practices in place to try and mitigate what we described as “mission drift”.

Please share something you would like to take away from the workshop.

I’m really interested in hearing about how others think about agtech as it relates to sustainability transitions.