Digital technology and agriculture: foresight for rural enterprises and rural lives in New Zealand

The sustainability and resilience of rural communities in New Zealand in the face of changing circumstances and conditions is gaining increasing media and academic attention with trends towards, and prediction of, rural decline. New and emerging digital technologies are an important driver of global change, offering both opportunities for, and threats to, business, welfare, and social-ecological sustainability, including rural enterprises and rural communities. Some of these technologies will have incremental influences on changing enterprises and supply chains, however, others may potentially be very disruptive to the current New Zealand agricultural system, rural enterprises and rural lives. The purpose of this paper is to 1) contextualise factors influencing technology development and adoption, 2) consider some new and emerging digital technologies and, 3) foresight some potential implications for agricultural enterprises and rural communities in the next 20 years. An awareness of the types of technologies, the threats they might pose to the current agricultural system, rural business enterprises and practices, the opportunities they might open up for them, and their disruptive potential for both business and for rural living, will help rural enterprises and communities to strategically prepare and enhance their resilience to future change.