Our Focus on Digital Agriculture

At Huella Delta, our purpose is to design and support the implementation of pathways for market access and growth for rural community organizations. We promote market relationships that are more just, profitable, inclusive, and sustainable. We recognize that the digitalization of agriculture can have a radical influence on this market relationship.

The digitalization of agri-food systems means that production, marketing, and food consumption activities incorporate digital technologies. Some possibilities include:

• Farmers could receive technical advice through messages on their mobile phones.
• Farmers could make decisions considering information from sensors on their farm.
• Cooperatives could meet organic certification requirements through an app.
• Buyers could verify the origin of the products they consume through traceability platforms.

These new digital products and services can have a significant influence on how rural communities relate to the market. The benefits of this digitalization are anticipated and expected to be transformative: more efficiency in production, more profitability, and more sustainability. However, we are aware that the benefits of digitalization do not reach everyone equally, and that technological development is not a neutral process. Based on lessons learned from previous agricultural revolutions, at Huella Delta, we focus on ensuring that digital advances effectively benefit rural producers, facilitating their inclusion in the markets under more favorable conditions. We analyze the role of technologies in the commercial relationships of these communities to ensure a positive and lasting impact.

A pillar of our approach to digital agriculture is the doctoral research in Rural Sociology conducted by our co-founder, Jenny Melo, at the University of Missouri, completed in May 2023. Her study delves into the current offer of digital agriculture in Colombia, exploring both the visions of its promoters and the associated social and ethical implications. In this research, Jenny built a framework to identify and address the spectrum of social and ethical implications related to these technologies, considering factors that influence access to technologies and factors associated with the governance of technologies

Learn more in the recent presentation by Jenny Melo at an event organized by IICA, Agencia de Desarrollo Rural, Agrosavia and broadcasted by Linkata, where she explains [in Spanish] the importance of considering the social implications of agriculture:

Are you designing or implementing a digital product or service and want to discuss how it includes or excludes rural communities? Let’s talk jenny@huelladelta.com