Planetary health and digital Agriculture: Rethinking technological innovation

Currently we are in the middle of an environmental crisis of ever greater severity. This is in large part a consequence of the industrial agricultural methods used, but equally agriculture is one of the areas of human activity suffering the most severe impacts from environmental disruptions. The promise of precision agriculture and smart farming has been significant reductions in the environmental impacts of agriculture. This promise is dependent on a narrow view of the environmental impact of using advanced technologies on the farm. A wider perspective is needed to assess the impact of these technologies such as that provided by the concept of Planetary Health. We present a tripartite approach to evaluating technological innovations inspired by the climate emissions reporting standard and the Planetary Health paradigm. Scope one concerns purely the activities and impact on the farm, scope two concerns the landscape as defined by geographic and social delimiters, and scope three concerns the whole planet. We provide a set of questions at each level to consider the direct and indirect/long distance impacts of any given technological solution.