Jan 29 2025 55 mins 1
THE ECOPOLITICS OF TECH #3
In this episode we have Justin Sardo of A Growing Culture talk about stories and struggles to do with technology, innovation and change, particularly in agriculture. How do we question and subvert the narratives of corporate tech and AGtech? What's the vision that AGtech holds for growing and eating food, from the Green Revolution to today? What other ways of thinking about technology, science and development can we summon, drawing on community experiences, grassroots knowledges and self-determination? Recorded early on in 2025, this episode reflects on contradictions and struggles around technological sovereignty, in the US and beyond. As the front between tech oligarchies and the wider world comes into sharper focus, we ask what it may mean to organize, resist and center other imaginaries.
This episode draws on two reports that offer ways to address these questions: ‘The Politics of Technology’ and ‘Autonomy in the Face of AGTech’, by A Growing Culture and the ETC Group. You can download these, with narrative analyses, case studies, worksheets and beautiful illustrations, here: https://viacampesina.org/en/2023/12/autonomy-face-of-agtech-how-do-we-counter-corporate-narratives/ They were co-produced by A Growing Culture and the ETC Group in collaboration with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa and La Via Campesina. Our episode icon is based on the reports illustrations by Pilar Emitxin.
Links
A Growing Culture: https://www.agrowingculture.org/
ETC Group - Action Group on Erosion, technology and Concentration: https://www.etcgroup.org/
The Reports: The Politics of Technology; Autonomy in the Face of AGTech https://viacampesina.org/en/2023/12/autonomy-face-of-agtech-how-do-we-counter-corporate-narratives/
Langdon Winner, The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology, which you can find here: https://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/students/envs_5110/whale_reactor.pdf
The North America Digital Agriculture Working Group (NADAWG) is an awesome resource and has a lot of great pieces on its site: https://nadawg.org/
For more on Green Revolution history, see Nick Cullather's book, The Hungry World: America's Cold War Battle Against Poverty in Asia.
The Centre for Story Based Strategy, which advised the reports in question https://www.storybasedstrategy.org/
La Cia Campesina https://viacampesina.org/en/
In this episode we have Justin Sardo of A Growing Culture talk about stories and struggles to do with technology, innovation and change, particularly in agriculture. How do we question and subvert the narratives of corporate tech and AGtech? What's the vision that AGtech holds for growing and eating food, from the Green Revolution to today? What other ways of thinking about technology, science and development can we summon, drawing on community experiences, grassroots knowledges and self-determination? Recorded early on in 2025, this episode reflects on contradictions and struggles around technological sovereignty, in the US and beyond. As the front between tech oligarchies and the wider world comes into sharper focus, we ask what it may mean to organize, resist and center other imaginaries.
This episode draws on two reports that offer ways to address these questions: ‘The Politics of Technology’ and ‘Autonomy in the Face of AGTech’, by A Growing Culture and the ETC Group. You can download these, with narrative analyses, case studies, worksheets and beautiful illustrations, here: https://viacampesina.org/en/2023/12/autonomy-face-of-agtech-how-do-we-counter-corporate-narratives/ They were co-produced by A Growing Culture and the ETC Group in collaboration with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa and La Via Campesina. Our episode icon is based on the reports illustrations by Pilar Emitxin.
Links
A Growing Culture: https://www.agrowingculture.org/
ETC Group - Action Group on Erosion, technology and Concentration: https://www.etcgroup.org/
The Reports: The Politics of Technology; Autonomy in the Face of AGTech https://viacampesina.org/en/2023/12/autonomy-face-of-agtech-how-do-we-counter-corporate-narratives/
Langdon Winner, The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology, which you can find here: https://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/students/envs_5110/whale_reactor.pdf
The North America Digital Agriculture Working Group (NADAWG) is an awesome resource and has a lot of great pieces on its site: https://nadawg.org/
For more on Green Revolution history, see Nick Cullather's book, The Hungry World: America's Cold War Battle Against Poverty in Asia.
The Centre for Story Based Strategy, which advised the reports in question https://www.storybasedstrategy.org/
La Cia Campesina https://viacampesina.org/en/
