From industrial to ecological farming: An ethnography of drone innovation in the Sino-European context

My doctoral dissertation is part of the SNSF research project 'Digital agriculture: Sino-European contrasts, correspondences and collaborations' at the Unit of Social Anthropology at the University of Fribourg. The project explores the challenges and opportunities of agricultural digitalisation through drones, and uses this as a case for understanding broader reconfigurations of global hierarchies of digital technologies and knowledge. The objective of my dissertation is to critically examine the socio-technical aspects of agricultural drones in the Sino-German context based on ethnographic methods. Drawing on diverse perspectives from farmers, grassroots innovators, local officials and industrial experts, my dissertation attempts to shed light on the inconsistencies between high-tech imaginaries of digitalisation represented by the drone industry and state policies, and on-the-ground practices and experiences of farmers and diverse local actors. By adopting an actor-centred methodological approach, my dissertation adds important nuances to the adoption of Chinese agricultural drones in a transnational context.