Farmers have been innovating since before it was called innovation. For much of that time, innovation in agricultural systems and practices has been built around – and worked within – ecosystem boundaries. As the pace of technological development has sped up, the goals of innovation have become increasingly more controlling, disruptive and disconnected from these boundaries.

Today, the technological advancements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are advancing ambitions to reconstruct our concepts of natural and nature.

A 2019 UK government policy paper, Regulation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 1 describes this revolution as:
“Characterised by a fusion of technologies – such as artificial intelligence, gene editing and advanced robotics – that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological worlds.”

It further notes that, “innovation increasingly blurs the lines between sectors and cuts across traditional regulatory boundaries” as well.

The UK government’s industrial and innovation policies sit at the heart of its economic vision for the UK – and heavily influence its approach to agriculture. But how do the ambitions of the Fourth Agricultural Revolution,2 or Agriculture 4.0, shape the narrative of agriculture? Do they free us from or lock us into business-as-usual?