Robots, livestock farming, and technocapitalism

If there is a reason why the contemporary perception of the agricultural world is particularly fuzzy, it is because the general public maintains a very simplistic and traditional idea of the “farm” as an imagined space combining exoticism and authenticity, while nevertheless expressing concern over the effects of conventional agriculture on the environment and health. It is in this context of significant tensions between two competing models—productivist agriculture and “peasant” agriculture—that the use of technological innovation can be called into question. Expanding on the transition to mechanization initiated after the Second World War to maximize labour productivity, sensors, drones, algorithms, and robots are now reshaping the boundaries of a form of agriculture aimed at reconciling high yields with environmental care. In this context, this article studies the place of innovation in livestock farming. Specifically based on an ethnography of the milking robot, it describes the interactions between three categories of ontologically dissimilar actors, namely livestock farmers, robots, and cows.