In response to production shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of social distancing on traditional distribution channels (e.g., on-farm markets, CSA pickups, farmers’ markets), local farmers and consumers are switching to digital technologies to ensure that they can grow, buy, and sell food from a distance. Decisions about who takes which risks to grow, distribute, or consume food depend on the ways that growers and distributors manage farm data. As small farmers and local food distributors switch en masse to replace face-to-face networking with digital tracking systems, the ways that they manage data form an invisible infrastructure governing risk, food access, and the consolidation of power within these networks. In this project, we interview local farmers, food distributors, and digital tool developers, recording their experiences of this transition alongside de-identified screenshots and workflows of the tools they use to manage and organize data. These data include worker health, supply orders, food access, and farm productivity, presenting ethical and logistical problems for farmers and local food supporters. Just access to food and work requires urgent research to understand the technology-mediated systems that connect farms and eaters. By centering the collection and interpretation of data, this project analyzes how sociocultural biases in data management inform the decision-making that will shape the post-coronavirus rural economy. To better understand how growers and food distributors are managing the challenges of a forced, rapid transition to online platforms, we have convened a research team including anthropologists, computer scientists, agricultural economists, and agricultural engineers. This project is funded by the Social Science Research Council.
Publications related to this research:
Flachs, Andrew, Ankita Raturi, Megan Low, Valerie Miller, Juliet Norton, Celeste Redmond, and Haley Thomas. 2024. “Digital tools for local farmers: Thinking with spreadsheets in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Culture, Agriculture, Food, and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1111/cuag.12316..