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

I’ve been working on agtech since 2016, first though precision agriculture and then broadening to digital agriculture more broadly. My interests are in understanding agtech innovation better, using lenses such as (digital) innovation ecosystems, responsible research and innovation, human centred design, and embodiment, and I have co-authored various articles on these topics in recent years. Currently, I’n interested in agtech innovation ecosystems and how they relate to food systems transformation, and also whether and how agtech start-ups change the way agricultural innovation is done. I’m motivated to do this because I like to study what’s happening in actual practice, and agtech has made a big surge in the past 10 years.

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.

In many ways, I’m a quite ‘classical’ or ‘mode 1’ academic, so I a rather study approaches such as responsible innovation, instead of doing it myself. Nonetheless, my collaborators and I try to develop methodologies to enhance responsible innovation, such as a ‘socio-cyber-physical systems’ framework to better diagnose potential (un)sustainability impacts of digitalization. This work is translated into tools for Living Labs. Also, in advisory roles for organizations such as AgResearch and IICA and several (invited) talks on the topic I advocate for responsible design, diverse agtech solutions for diverse audiences, and integration of agtech with systems such as agroecology.

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

I don’t really measure it. I sometimes get anecdotal evidence that my work has been useful in the sense of being thought provoking or eye-opening.

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.

I’m aware that in critical sociology and critical agrarian studies, the tech-finance industry is seen as an entity which is not really interested in long-term sustainability, but in short-term financial returns. Likewise, that the agtech industry is a keen believer in ‘tech solutionism’ and not really addressing root causes of unsustainability and propising radically different agricultural systems (including values, technologies, practices, distribution mechanisms, etc,). I certainly believe there is a certain breed of such investors and agtech companies.

Nonetheless, I think we should not frame it all too negatively, for a few reasons: 1) there are impact investors and agtech companies who starting from the current (capitalist) system, may really try to change the system from within. 2) increasingly, there is a focus on ‘hybrid digital agricultures’ which combine tech with ecologically intensive farming and also include smallholder farms 3) i do believe that many agtechs (not all) have sustainability goals, for some more genuine and for others less (greenwashing). the former category may be forced in due time to dilute their ambition, but this is more a systemic problem than their own desire.

To investigate the tensions suggested above, we rely on the concept of “mission drift”. We understand mission drift as a tendency for social and environmental impact commitments of individuals and organizations to leak out over time due to pressures and opportunities to expand revenue, valuation and capital gains. Our project aims to investigate mission drift applied to entrepreneurial ventures as well as to organizations dedicated to supporting innovation. Please comment on this thesis in general, and in relation to specific things you have experienced where possible. To the extent you find this thesis useful, what strategies can you identify to defend against mission drift?

Very appropriate thesis, aligns with what I just stated in my previous comment. It connects also with the transition studies position of change makers taking a ‘fit and conform’ strategy or a ‘stretch and transform’ strategy.

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

Meeting colleagues and authors whose work I admire in person, getting a better understanding in the experiences of agtech companies and investors. Learning about the strategies, struggles, positive aspects of impact investing for sustainable agtech.