While digitalization can be an asset in advancing food security and revealing patterns of inequity and discrimination, it is already being deployed in ways that further entrench existing inequalities and lock in unjust systems. This occurs, for example, through data and patent monopolies practised by multinational agricultural companies, by replacing low-skilled workers with technology, or by excluding poorer segments of society – particularly women and the elderly in rural areas – from digital participation. A paradigm shift is needed to ensure that digital tools empower communities to shape their own futures, protect their rights, and hold their governments accountable.

This policy brief presents an emerging consensus on the conditions needed to ensure that digitalization shapes food systems transformation in a positive way. Drawing on the experiences of social movements, of TMG Research staff, their project partners, and other experts in co-designing programmes, this brief uses case studies to generate and present recommendations for maximizing the potential of digitalization to transform food systems.