Overcoming ‘Digital Divides’: Leveraging higher education to develop next generation digital agriculture professionals

Abstract

Agriculture 4.0 technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things, Computer Vision, and Robotics, have revolutionized the agricultural sector. But the adoption of digital technologies has arguably created new or exacerbated existing socioeconomic disparities, while raising ethical issues, particularly when considering technology access and adoption. So far, the literature has placed little emphasis on how to effectively bridge knowledge and skills disparities in the agriculture sector—or mend agriculture’s ‘digital divides’—through workforce development strategies that leverage higher education and extension programs. In this article, we argue that academic programs have a much bigger role to play via educational and extension efforts to equip tomorrow’s AI-ready workforce. This may be accomplished through imparting technological know-how in the form of upskilling and reskilling, and through the strategic management of equitable technological change and incorporation of ethical data management. We explain what this upskilling should consist in, where it is needed the most, and why engaging with the ethics of emerging technologies is important. The reader will get an appreciation of how academic programs can leverage digital agriculture (DA) to develop skills and talent needed for the agricultural sector to reap the benefits of digitalization and address the workforce development challenges encountered.