A digital technology treadmill: How California’s direct market farmers experience the trend toward online sales and marketing

Keywords: digital technology, agriculture, direct market farmers, alternative food networks, COVID-19, political economy
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

This paper explores how farmers in California who sell through direct market channels (e.g., farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture) experience the trend toward online sales and marketing. Consumers increasingly use the internet to buy or find information about products. This trend has accelerated since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, online information and communication technologies are becoming a prerequisite for participating in market economies, particularly in California. Alongside this trend, direct market farmers increasingly use online sales and marketing technologies, and the number of sales platforms for direct market farms is growing. In this paper, I explore the relevance of the treadmill of production theory in the context of digital technology adoption among farmers who, in theory, seek to provide an alternative to profit-driven agricultural systems. In particular, I examine the extent to which farmers’ perception of competition motivates them to adopt new online sales and marketing technologies and whether adopting these technologies positions farmers at an advantage for capital accumulation. In this presentation, I will discuss findings based on semi-structured interviews and participant observation related to farmers’ attitudes toward online sales and marketing and the structural barriers farmers face in using these technologies. I will discuss my analysis of the extent to which the digitalization of markets produces a treadmill effect of “adopt or get out” and how this trend structurally disadvantages farmers who lack the knowledge and capital to use these technologies.