Social Evaluation of Technologies

Some Evidence of Impact on Uruguayan Dairy Farming

Abstract

The social impact of technology is conceived as the influence that science and technology achievements have on a population’s economic, social and/or cultural benefits. The social impact assessment of agricultural technology aims to identify changes linked to the fulfillment of basic needs and/or the improvement of quality of life. Its purpose is to analyze how the use of certain innovations contributes to the social wellbeing of farmers and farm related persons. An essential component for social asses-sment of technology is adopters’ opinions regarding technology’s effects on different social aspects. This study explores the social impact of technologies used in Uruguayan dairy farming during the last decade based on a national survey of dairy farmers. The survey collected producers’ opinions on the effect arising from the adoption of different technologies in a set of variables involving employment and training, health issues, income, farm management and administration. Indices were calculated aggregating information from thirteen indicators of the perceived impact from each technology evaluated. All indices turned out to be positive suggesting that social impacts detected by producers are generally oriented to improve the set of social aspects considered. However, the intensity of all indices is extremely low and close to value zero which describes a view according to which there are no social effects resulting from technology.