The Precision Farming Revolution: Local and Global Drivers of Local Agricultural Methods

This book examines the precision farming revolution in Somerset, England. It reveals the reasons why local farmers invested in autonomous systems and traces the outcomes of adoption. It describes the local and global drivers of the fourth industrial revolution, from world population growth, climatic and ecological crises, profit driven farming and government agri-tech grants, to the Space Race era. A new cultural method of intelligence, ideas and thinking, new organisational and control powers, was precisely what precision farming offered farmers and off-farm firms, who were able to remotely monitor and control natural environments and aspects of on-farm activities. As a result of local farmers opting into precision farming systems the power dynamics of industrial agriculture were reorganised and this book will offer readers an understanding of how and why. Front Matter ....Pages i-xii The Precision Farming Revolution (James E. Addicott)....Pages 1-35 Global drivers (James E. Addicott)....Pages 37-68 Economic drivers (James E. Addicott)....Pages 69-129 Cultural methods (James E. Addicott)....Pages 131-176 Society and Nature (James E. Addicott)....Pages 177-211 Farming futures (James E. Addicott)....Pages 213-229 Back Matter ....Pages 231-237