Catherine Bentley-Price

This paper critically examines the emerging sociotechnical visions of biochar within UK agriculture, focusing on its potential role in greenhouse gas removal (GGR) and the broader net zero agenda. Agriculture is framed as both a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions and a unique sector capable of acting as a carbon sink, positioning it at the heart of debates about climate change mitigation. The paper adopts a sociotechnical visions framework to illuminate how stakeholders align with, contest, and propose alternatives to the dominant net zero sociotechnical imaginary. We identify two overarching sociotechnical visions of biochar in UK agriculture. The first is a sociotechnical vision of greenhouse gas removal through biochar produced at scale and applied to agricultural land, detailing both farmer alignment with and contestation of this approach. The second is a sociotechnical vision of biochar for multiple on-farm benefits, including farm business benefits, enhanced agricultural production and improved on-farm biodiversity. The analysis shows that the future of biochar in UK agriculture is characterised by diversity and contestation, requiring governance frameworks that accommodate multiple, sometimes competing, sociotechnical visions. This pluralism offers opportunities for more just, inclusive, achievable, and transformative pathways for biochar in UK agriculture. Additionally, the paper contributes to the literature on sociotechnical imaginaries and sociotechnical visions by foregrounding the dynamic interplay and negotiation between top-down institutional imaginaries—such as net zero—and emergent, grassroots visions developed by farmers and other agricultural stakeholders.

Prevalent narratives of agricultural innovation predict that we are once again on the cusp of a global agricultural revolution. According to these narratives, this so-called fourth agricultural revolution, or agriculture 4.0, is set to transform current agricultural practices around the world at a quick pace, making use of new sophisticated precision technologies. Often used as a rhetorical device, this narrative has a material effect on the trajectories of an inherently political and normative agricultural transition; with funding, other policy instruments, and research attention focusing on the design and development of new precision technologies. A growing critical social science literature interrogates the promises of revolution. Engagement with new technology is likely to be uneven, with benefits potentially favouring the already powerful and the costs falling hardest on the least powerful. If grand narratives of change remain unchallenged, we risk pursuing innovation trajectories that are exclusionary, failing to achieve responsible innovation. This study utilises a range of methodologies to explore everyday encounters between farmers and technology, with the aim of inspiring further work to compile the microhistories that can help to challenge robust grand narratives of change. We explore how farmers are engaging with technology in practice and show how these interactions problematise a simple, linear notion of innovation adoption and use. In doing so, we reflect upon the contribution that the study of everyday encounters can make in setting more inclusionary, responsible pathways towards sustainable agriculture.