Farming, Technology, and the Future: Understanding How Farmers Engage with Digital Tools

Written By Louise Morton

A well-deserved ice-cream at Cereals 2025under sunny sky’s - albeit a bit windy!

As a PhD researcher at the University of Hull, my work explores how digital technologies—particularly technologies involving IT systems, sensors, satellite data, analytics, and farm management platforms —are shaping the way farmers manage their land, make decisions, and engage with sustainability. The research sits at the intersection of environmental change, agricultural practice, and digital innovation, asking a deceptively simple question: What happens when farmers use digital tools to farm?

We live in a time of accelerating technological change, and farming is no exception. From satellite-driven yield maps to soil moisture sensors and predictive analytics, these technologies promise to make farming more efficient, sustainable, and responsive to environmental challenges. But adoption isn’t always straightforward. Technologies are not simply ‘used’—they are learned, interpreted, challenged, adapted, and sometimes rejected altogether.

My research seeks to understand this complexity. Rather than assuming technology uptake is just a matter of access or training, I look at how farmers actually engage with these tools in their everyday practices. What kinds of knowledge do they draw upon? How do they trust (or mistrust) the information provided? What kinds of decisions do these tools shape—or fail to shape?

I am approaching these questions using qualitative research methods, and that means  interviewing farmers, agricultural advisers, and tool developers. This allows me to trace the socio -environmental-technical relationships that underpin technology use on farms: how farmers make sense of sensor data; how tools fit (or clash) with local farming knowledge; and how broader cultural, economic, and regulatory conditions influence uptake.

A key aim of the project is to critically examine claims made about these technologies—particularly their potential for promoting sustainable food production. Often, digital farming tools are seen as neutral or inherently progressive. But they are built with assumptions about what good farming looks like, and about who gets to decide what counts as a ‘good’ decision. By studying these tools in context, I hope to reveal both their promises and their limits.

Driven by concerns about climate change and its long-term impacts on future generations - my children, and theirs, what began as a general interest in environmental change has evolved into a focused inquiry into agriculture, technology, and sustainability. Food production is a central pillar in the climate story, yet it is often treated as a technical or logistical challenge rather than a deeply social and political one.

Ultimately, my research hopes to contribute to a more grounded understanding of digital agriculture—one that values farmers not just as adopters of innovation, but as knowledgeable actors whose lived experiences matter. If we want agricultural technologies to support meaningful environmental change, we need to understand how they work on the ground.

So now it’s your turn to get involved. I have put a few questions together specifically for women farmers and I’d love to hear from you. Please scan the QR code or click this LINK and let me know whether digital tools have helped you to ‘level the playing field’ alongside your male counterparts. If you do choose to get involved – thanks - I really appreciate it.