Towards a methodology to consider the environmental impacts of digital agriculture

Abstract: Agriculture affects global warming, while its yields are threatened by it. Information and communication technology (ICT) is often considered as a potential lever to mitigate this tension, through monitoring and process optimization. However, while agricultural ICT is actively promoted, its environmental impact appears to be overlooked. Possible rebound effects could put at stake its net expected benefits and hamper agriculture sustainability. By adapting environmental footprint assessment methods to digital agriculture context, this research aims at defining a methodology taking into account the environmental footprint of agricultural ICT systems and their required infrastructures. The expected contribution is to propose present and prospective models based on possible digitalization scenarios, in order to assess effects and consequences of different technological paths on agriculture sustainability, sufficiency and resilience. The final results could be useful to enlighten societal debates and political decisions.