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ADMATC: "Agricultural Technology: Application, Adoption and Ethics"
Module code: ADMATC
Module provider: School of Agriculture, Policy and Development
Credits: 20
Level: 7
When you’ll be taught: Semester 2
Module convenor: Professor Paul Hadley , email: p.hadley@reading.ac.uk
Pre-requisite module(s):
Co-requisite module(s):
Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):
Module(s) excluded:
Placement information: NA
Academic year: 2025/6
Available to visiting students: Yes
Talis reading list: No
Last updated: 3 April 2025
Overview
Module aims and purpose
Explore different agricultural technologies and their contribution to sustainability (productivity, environment, society), and consider how we can encourage their adoption on farm. Through lectures, seminars, field trips, and industry engagement, examine technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, robotics, drones, and gene editing. Discuss the ethics of new agricultural technologies, exploring different visions of future innovation, and various issues associated with the proposed ‘fourth agricultural revolution’, e.g. trust in food production, data ownership, security and privacy, animal welfare, the nature of farm employment, farmer physical and mental health.Â
Module learning outcomes
By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:Â
- Critically analyse agricultural technology Â
- Identify barriers to adoption of technology and investigate how these can be overcomeÂ
- Evaluate ethical challenges relating to technology useÂ
Module content
The module will explore global sustainability challenges facing agriculture and critically evaluate the role of agricultural technology in solving them. We will learn lessons from previous technology revolutions and explore which new technologies can make a difference in agriculture, focusing on arable, livestock and horticultural sectors. These new technologies will include AI, robotics, drones, remote sensing, amongst others. The module will provide a practical introduction to these technologies, but also consider social science approaches to adoption and behaviour change on-farm and also the ethics of their use – e.g. data security, trust, animal welfare.Â
Structure
Teaching and learning methods
This module will use a range of teaching and learning methods including lectures, seminars, field trips, industry engagement and online material.Â
Study hours
At least 44 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.
 Scheduled teaching and learning activities |  Semester 1 |  Semester 2 | Ìý³§³Ü³¾³¾±ð°ù |
---|---|---|---|
Lectures | 22 | ||
Seminars | 10 | ||
Tutorials | 10 | ||
Project Supervision | |||
Demonstrations | |||
Practical classes and workshops | |||
Supervised time in studio / workshop | |||
Scheduled |