University of SaskatchewanHARVEST
  • Login
  • Submit Your Work
  • About
    • About HARVEST
    • Guidelines
    • Browse
      • All of HARVEST
      • Communities & Collections
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
      • This Collection
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
    • My Account
      • Login
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
      View Item 
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item

      CREATING AN INNOVATION OPPORTUNITY SPACE FOR BROADACRE SMART FARMING: A CASE STUDY OF AUTONOMOUS FARM EQUIPMENT

      Thumbnail
      View/Open
      RELF-ECKSTEIN-THESIS-2020.pdf (2.328Mb)
      Date
      2020-06-10
      Author
      Relf-Eckstein, Jo Anne E.
      ORCID
      0000-0002-6600-5280
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
      Show full item record
      Abstract
      Advances in digital technologies are transforming the agriculture and agri-food system. The technological changes are represented in many forms, ranging from software-based prescriptions for optimal rate application of farm inputs, advanced imagery of fields and plants collected by sensors, satellites and drones, to new forms of human-to-machine interactions and machine learning This thesis is a case study of one type of a smart farming innovation, a field robot., originating from a small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME) that designs and manufacturers machinery used in broadacre, conservation tillage farming. The innovation, known as DOT™, is an entrepreneur’s response to problems in the agriculture industry, and a solution to a critical constraint of labour shortages in the sector. By gathering qualitative data through interviews, news items and academic publications, observing the farming community’s engagement with digital technology innovation at farm show, and applying the Innovation Opportunity Space (IOS) analytical framework, this study identified that an autonomous DOT™ offers a solution for farming problems. Other firms are incorporating the DOT™ technology into their manufacturing operations through licensing agreements and early farmer adoption is positive. The process of innovation was based on synthesis of tacit knowledge (experience-based knowledge of farming and agribusiness) and codified knowledge (drawing on computer programing), while public policy facilitated the hiring of trained university students who remain with the SME as advocates for smart farming. There remain some gaps: public policy for safe deployment of smart farming innovation is lagging behind invention and commercialization; new business models for manufacture and commercialization of high-tech equipment are just emerging and data ownership and control remains unresolved; and evidence of the value of smart farming technologies to farmers and the larger social system remains scant.
      Degree
      Master of Public Policy (M.P.P.)
      Department
      Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
      Program
      Public Policy
      Supervisor
      Rayner, Jeremy
      Committee
      Bronson, Kelly; Holroyd, Carin; Phillips, Peter W.B.
      Copyright Date
      May 2020
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/12884
      Subject
      smart farming
      autonomous
      Collections
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      University of Saskatchewan

      University Library

      The University of Saskatchewan's main campus is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis.

      © University of Saskatchewan
      Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy