HCI Research on Agriculture: Competing Sociotechnical Imaginaries, Definitions, and Opportunities

Agriculture is foundational for food security on our planet. Considering climate change and other pressures on food production, HCI scholars have increasingly begun to examine how the field should approach agricultural innovation. We conducted a literature review of HCI research through the lens of competing future visions for good food systems: a “conventional” vision of profit-oriented production, and an “alternative” which prioritizes sustainability and community-led practices. Leveraging the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries, we provide an empirical analysis of how HCI and adjacent applied computing projects align with these competing visions for agriculture. This review reveals, amongst other findings, a prioritization of the perspectives of the Global North and a need for more careful attention to the constraints and aspirations of subsistence farmers. Finally, we note the limits of the conventional-alternative binary that shapes much of contemporary HCI research focused on agriculture and offer opportunities for transcending this framing.