Big Data on the Dairy Farm
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Big Data on the Dairy Farm:
Relational Transformations across Agricultural Occupations and Organizations with the Rise of Digital Technologies
A multi-year, comparative mixed-method study investigating evolving relations stemming from the rise of emerging technologies under digital transformation. We conduct this study in dairy farming to understand how “digital agriculture” is transforming occupations and organizations. We take a particular interest in how data science models—which stand at the core of digital agriculture, being fed by data from technologies that monitor cows, fields, farm equipment, and buildings—contribute to these evolving relations and how relational transformations, in turn, shape the models.
Intellectual Merit
This study enhances our understanding of technology use and the evolving nature of work. Research shows that digital technologies gain meaning in social contexts, but little is known about how relationships among people, sensors, data, animals, and data science models develop over time. By examining digital agriculture in dairy farming, this research uncovers key entities, their interactions, and the critical relationships that drive data-driven decision-making.
The findings contribute to new theories on big data management, exploring its impact on work, interorganizational collaboration, and data governance. This study provides insights into how occupations and organizations adopt digital technologies, helping them navigate the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation.
Broader Impact
Our results stand to shape how the dairy industry and other industries think about and establish data governance structures as well as inform model building in crop and livestock digital agriculture.
