Care in digital farming - from acting on to living with

Development of digital technology to handle complex situations in agriculture hasfor long time mainly been technology driven, resulting in limited adoption. Thisthesis aims to: 1) Introduce methods and theories from the research field of humancomputerinteraction in the agricultural domain to improve design and developmentprocesses of digital technology. 2) Introduce the concept of care to increaseknowledge about farmers' technology use in their socio-technical system (practice),as well as to introduce a relational perspective in agriculture. The two systemicallydescribed complex decision situations are fertilization with a decision supportsystem, that uses satellite images and automated milking systems. 3) Evaluate twodifferent theoretical lenses to study the concept of care in practice, DistributedCognition and Activity Theory. The studies of farmers' socio-technical systemsshow that farmers develop an enhanced professional vision to interpret data from thetechnology and learn more about the field/crop or the cow. New technology changesthe relationship between the farmer and the field/crop or cow, but the experiencedfarmer supplements what they see through the technology with direct contact with,for example, the cow. The need for a stockperson’s eye is thus at least as great afterthe introduction of robots in milk production. A relational perspective involves anunderstanding of our mutual dependence with the crop or the cow in these examples,as well as nature and its ecosystem services. Introduction of the concept of care anda relational approach, meaning that farming is to live with, not just act on, cansupport the transformation of agriculture that we know is necessary. In thistransformational process, technology has an important role to play. However, it mustbe developed in cooperation and dialog with end-users to fit in their socio-technicalecologicalsystem and thus support their care.