AI in Food and Agriculture

This book offers the first comprehensive philosophical account of what is ethically at stake as AI becomes embedded in agricultural systems, from precision irrigation platforms on the Kansas High Plains to robotic harvesters in the apple orchards of Washington State.

In the face of changing weather patterns, droughts, and fewer available resources, modern agricultural practices are evolving, embracing artificial intelligence systems to help increase crop efficiency, production, and yields. However, technological innovation on the farm often comes with environmental and social costs. This book analyses AI and Information Systems through the lens of contemporary challenges in agricultural processes ranging from farm to table. Drawing on field visits across the Pacific Northwest and sustained engagement with agricultural ethics, philosophy of technology, and environmental justice, the book develops three original frameworks for evaluating agricultural AI: the Four Pillars of Agricultural Ethics, which assesses AI across its impacts on society, individuals, the environment, and animals; the SEED Framework, which translates sustainability into design-stage commitments for responsible AI; and a trivalent environmental justice framework that holds distribution, recognition, and intergenerational responsibility together as inseparable governance concerns. Together, these tools make the case for bringing ethics into the design of agricultural AI before costs become embedded in the landscape.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of agricultural and food ethics, agricultural technology and innovation, artificial intelligence and the philosophy of technology.