Do farmers dream of electric sheeps? Some key elements to think the new rural digital divide

Abstract

The New Information and Communication Technologies —NICT— are generating deep socio-territorial changes not only in the urban areas but also in the rural areas and of agricultural production, situation that defines the new rural digital divide. Mutations involve many aspects, being highlighted the use of new instruments and devices, the use of diverse softwares, the application of Geographic Information Systems —GIS— and the irruption of the artificial Intelligence —AI—. But all this defines, at the same time, different problems and conflicts in terms of the incorporation of those new computer and technological possibilities. In the same way, the challenges are substantial, embracing from the unequal insert and diffusion of the emergent possibilities until the derived socio-territorial impacts of the introduction of the NICT in the areas of agricultural production.