Smart and digital agrifood: evidence from six case studies

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to study the changes brought about by new technologies in terms of productivity, strategy formulation and organization management in the agrifood sector. In order to achieve this objective, I selected six companies belonging to different sectors, from wine to dairy products. I developed the case studies by interviewing the owners, the employees and the technicians working within the companies. My questions were mainly addressed to find out why they have decided to invest in advanced technologies, the changes involved by technology and the future prospective. I was also interested in the advantages and the difficulties met in the process adoption. In particular, I discovered that the main obstacle is related to people, both in terms of competences and human mentality. Training is essential because technology is changing the skills required. More professional technicians will be needed. Furthermore, more interdisciplinary skills will be required to support innovation. Despite the difficulties, technologies are fundamental to compete and to gain additional profits in the future. Anyway it is a utopia thinking that technology will substitute humans in the future. According to the majority of the firms analysed, technology should be perceived as something that supports and facilitates the human decision making process, not something that will change completely the way in which work is performed