In terms of sustainability and competitiveness, modern agriculture depends on information across the whole of food-production. Research in the International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology has looked at how data, innovation, and collaboration shape farm performance in the facing of growing climate change issues and under diverse market pressures. The work suggests that without knowledge frameworks, policies and technologies designed to improve resilience are likely to underperform.
The researchers show that information quality is a decisive factor linking farm-level decisions to wider economic and environmental outcomes. Data on production volumes, input costs, as well as resource use can be combined with national statistics and market intelligence to help farmers and policymakers to respond to price signals, supply chain disruption, and climate stress. Unfortunately, many farms still operate without formal accounting systems or even consistent record-keeping, which means their decision-making is not clear. Moreover, a lack of detailed economic awareness might be limiting the capacity of many farms to adapt production in response to changing conditions.
The detrimental effects of this information gap are worsened by social and organisational factors within the sector. Farmers’ associations, cooperatives, and informal networks can play a role in knowledge exchange, but many farmers do not make full use of such networks, with differences in uptake being linked to farm size, education level, and age. The team adds that the retention of younger people in rural areas emerges is a major concern, as demographic decline threatens the sector’s capacity to absorb new skills and sustain innovation over time.
The bottom line is that digitalisation, used systematically, rather than casually, might offer a structural shift in how agriculture is managed that could help overcome some of these problems. Digital systems can reduce wasted resources and wasted effort. With improved resource efficiency and decision-making supported by data in a sector where timing is often critical, farming practices might be improved. Ultimately, there is a need to embed this digitalisation within farming networks supported by leadership, coherent policy and trained personnel.
Figurek, A., Semenova, E., Thrassou, A., Semenov, A. and Vrontis, D. (2025) ‘Innovative tools for the agricultural information system: a conceptual framework’, Int. J. Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp.19–36.
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