Sensors and sensing practices: shaping farming system strategies toward agricultural sustainability

Abstract

While sustainability in farming is increasingly recognised, practical implementation faces obstacles, including knowledge gaps that hinder farmers’ effective adaptation. Agricultural sensors have emerged as tools to assist farmers in offering real-time monitoring capabilities, which can provide information to support decision-making towards sustainable crop production. However, critical analyses point out that innovation in agricultural equipment predominantly focuses on optimising the dominant intensification model, while sensors might also facilitate biodiversity-based strategies toward agricultural sustainability, which aim to replace chemical inputs through intensified ecological interactions. In this article, we examine the intricate relationship between technology and practice, recognising that the functionality of sensors is contingent upon the user, manner of use, and implementation context. We employ social practice theory to examine farmers’ current sensor usage and broader sensing practices in farming system strategies that align either more with efficiency/substitution-based or with biodiversity-based approaches toward agricultural sustainability. Through this approach, we elucidate how sensors and sensing practices contribute to knowledge production and management in both farming systems. Drawing on 11 semi-structured interviews with Dutch farmers, we identify diverse sensing practices that can enable different types of knowledge: oversight—enabling farmers to optimise the efficiency of production—and insight—offering a holistic and long-term understanding of ecological relations and how they affect production. We conclude by discussing the implications of these sensing practices and types of knowledge for strategies for agricultural sustainability.

Full text

Agriculture and Human Values
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-024-10686-w
tools to provide farmers with knowledge on various agro-
nomic parameters, including those aecting crop health like
the presence of pests, disease or drought (e.g. Bayer 2024;
John Deere 2024). By leveraging this information, farmers
are expected to be able to optimise the use of exogenous
inputs like pesticides and water, thereby reducing environ-
mental impact and improving protability (Clapp and Ruder
2020). However, while sensors hold potential for supporting
informed decision-making towards sustainable crop pro-
duction (Lobsey and Biswas 2022), critics contend that they
perpetuate the established intensication model because
they focus on optimising resource use eciency and are
predicated on the continued use of and dependence on exog-
enous inputs (Clapp and Ruder 2020). As such, they focus
on optimising existing systems rather than challenging the
fundamental structures of industrial agriculture (Salembier
et al. 2020; Altieri et al. 2017; Horton 2017).
These diverging perspectives on sensors reect a long-
standing discussion between ‘eciency/substitution-based’
Introduction
In response to the detrimental environmental impacts
increasingly attributed to the dominant agricultural intensi-
cation model (Garcia 2020; Clavel et al. 2023), there has
been a growing call for farming systems to prioritise sustain-
ability (HLPE 2019; IPES-Food 2016; IAASTD 2009; MEA
2005). However, the practical implementation of sustainable
agricultural practices faces signicant challenges, including
the need for farmers to possess the requisite knowledge to
adapt their farming system strategies toward sustainability
eectively (Siebrecht 2020; Adolwa et al. 2017). Real-time
monitoring sensors have emerged as potentially promising
Lenn Gorissen
l.gorissen@utwente.nl
1 Knowledge, Transformation & Society (KiTeS) Section,
University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands
Abstract
While sustainability in farming is increasingly recognised, practical implementation faces obstacles, including knowledge
gaps that hinder farmers’ eective adaptation. Agricultural sensors have emerged as tools to assist farmers in oering real-
time monitoring capabilities, which can provide information to support decision-making towards sustainable crop produc-
tion. However, critical analyses point out that innovation in agricultural equipment predominantly focuses on optimising
the dominant intensication model, while sensors might also facilitate biodiversity-based strategies toward agricultural
sustainability, which aim to replace chemical inputs through intensied ecological interactions. In this article, we examine
the intricate relationship between technology and practice, recognising that the functionality of sensors is contingent upon
the user, manner of use, and implementation context. We employ social practice theory to examine farmers’ current sensor
usage and broader sensing practices in farming system strategies that align either more with eciency/substitution-based
or with biodiversity-based approaches toward agricultural sustainability. Through this approach, we elucidate how sen-
sors and sensing practices contribute to knowledge production and management in both farming systems. Drawing on 11
semi-structured interviews with Dutch farmers, we identify diverse sensing practices that can enable dierent types of
knowledge: oversight—enabling farmers to optimise the eciency of production—and insight—oering a holistic and
long-term understanding of ecological relations and how they aect production. We conclude by discussing the implica-
tions of these sensing practices and types of knowledge for strategies for agricultural sustainability.
Keywords Sensor technology · Sensing · Social practices · Knowledge · Agricultural sustainability · Biodiversity
Accepted: 6 December 2024
© The Author(s) 2025
Sensors and sensing practices: shaping farming system strategies
toward agricultural sustainability
LennGorissen1· KorneliaKonrad1· EstherTurnhout1
1 3
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