Smart farms? Ethnographic insights from agricultural digitalization in Turkey

Agriculture in Turkey is amid profound transformations through digitalization, aiming for improved efficiency (more food from less land) and socioeconomic and ecological sustainability. This article examines farmers in western Turkey using so-called ‘smart’ agriculture technologies, particularly drones. Drones provide quantification and visualization of farms’ conditions and enable farmers to apply chemicals accordingly. Yet, in Turkey, drones are not equally accessible to all farmers owing to their high cost and incompatibility with some farms’ ecologies and existing technologies. Using drones also necessitates taking additional steps to align with Turkey's existing national security measures. Drawing on fieldwork with farmers and technicians in Turkey, I show how farmers participate in addressing these sociomaterialities of drones and the modalities of the state, exploring novel socialities and surveillance practices they have gone through.