Creativity and alienation in the creation of agricultural knowledge - the case of Israeli farmers in the era of the Big Data

The emergence of modern agriculture, with the global forces that shape it, has turned scholarly attention to the production, application, and dissemination of agricultural knowledge and technologies. However, little work has... [ view full abstract ]

The emergence of modern agriculture, with the global forces that shape it, has turned scholarly attention to the production, application, and dissemination of agricultural knowledge and technologies. However, little work has looked into the informal micro-level processes whereby agricultural knowledge is produced and disseminated, or examined the political implications of agricultural knowledge networks in the era of Big Data and digital agriculture. my paper addresses this gap by will focus on farmers in the Arava, a southern Israel desert region marked by intensive agriculture, with bell peppers for export as its staple crop. The paper focuses on the unique partnerships Israel forged between agriculturalists, scientists, technology companies, and civil servants, in order to develop plant varieties and advanced farming technologies. Based on ethnographic research and research that included observations, in-depth interviews and text analysis; the paper asks what is the role of farmers themselves in the process of creating agricultural knowledge? I will argue that despite their key role in creating the Arava’s agricultural knowledge and technology, farmers are eventually alienated from the product of their work. Accordingly, I will show how agricultural knowledge created in Israel becomes an economic product in the global agriculture market - Especially at a time when Big Data and precision agriculture are changing the traditional practices of agriculture, and how it is wielded by Israel as a political tool in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Finally, the article will demonstrate how Israeli attempts to offer an alternative model to agricultural knowledge creation, a model that challenges the one described in literature, have ultimately failed.