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DigitalisationofRuralAreasandAgricultureintheEUDebate:HowFarfromWhatResearchSays?
inthecountryside-isalsoovercome.Finally,accesstoICTsfavoursparticipation
inallmannerofinteractionsbetweenpeople,whichagaincouldbelessfrequent
inthecountrysidejustbecauseofalowerpopulationdensity(Warren2007;Philip
etal.2015).
ThispaperconfrontsthedebateondigitalisationofruralareasintheEUwith
theselectedcontemporaryproblemsofrural“digital”developmentasidentified
inacademicliterature.However,itdoesnotfocusonthedigitaldivideinawider
sensebutontheroleofICTsinfosteringruraldevelopment,actionstakenfor
digitalisingruralareasandagriculture,anddiscussionabouttheneedsofpeople
intermsoftheuseofsuchtechnologies.Inotherwords,thepaperconfronts
thepolicy-makers’andexperts’pointsofviewwiththeacademics’viewonthe
aboveproblemsofdigitalisation.Idiscussapracticalsideofthedebatebasedon
theoutcomesoftheseminaron“Multi-levelstrategiesfordigitisingagriculture
andruralareas”organisedbyEIP-AGRI,whichwasdevotedtotheissue.
1
The
seminarrepresentsthestateoftheEUdebateatthemoment.Itwasalsoastep
towardsshapingthepost-2020digitalfutureofruralareasinEurope.Attheseminar,
theinitiativestakenbytheEUorgansfordigitalisingruralareasandthegrassroots
actionstakenatlocallevelimplementedbyruralactorswerediscussed.Following
these,theproblemofhowtoeffectivelyintroduceICTsviadigitalstrategieswas
debated.Ittotal,morethan150expertsfromalmostalloftheEUcountriestook
partintheevent.
Representativesofvarioussectorsparticipateinsucheventsandanumber
ofproblemsareraised.ThissuggeststhattheECiscreatingaproperenviron-
mentfordiscussionandknowledgeexchange.However,diggingintothecourse
andoutcomesofthedebate,itcanbefoundthattheruralrealityinthedebateis
simplifiedandgeneralised(Idevelopthisargumentlaterinthispaper).Theone-
fits-(not)-allprobleminshapingpoliciesiswell-recognised(e.g.Ward,Brown2009)
butisstillevidentinprogrammingdevelopment.Inthecontextofdigitalisingrural
areas,theproblemcanbecomedowntocriticalcommentsthatrespectivepolicy
programmesandinitiativestopromotetheuseofICTsneglectruralsocio-economic
andgeographicalcontexts(Salemnik,Strijker,Bosworth2017).Althoughitis
1Theseminarwasheldon12-13December2018inAntwerp,Belgium.Inthepartofthepapertitled
“OutlineoftheEUDebateonDigitalisationofRuralAreasandAgriculture”
,theinformationobtainedduring
theauthor’sparticipationintheseminarwasused.Hence,thispartofthepapermayexpresstheopinions
oftheexpertsoftheseminaraswell.Theauthortookpartinthisseminarasarepresentativeofacademia,
andhisparticipationwasfinancedbytheEuropeanCommission.Thepaperreflectstheauthor’sview,
whichdoesnotpurporttoreflecttheopinionsoftheEC.Moreinformationabouttheseminarisavailable
at:https:llec.europa.euleiplagriculturelenleventleip-agri-seminar-multi-level-strategies-digitising(accessed
March2019).
WieśiRolnictwo2(183)/2019
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