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About

Karly Burch is a critical social scientist whose research sits at the intersection of agri-food systems, technology, and labor justice. Her work primarily explores how emerging technologies like AI and robotics are reshaping agricultural work, with a particular focus on the social and ethical dimensions of automation. Burch’s major contributions include her concept of “robot-ready” assemblages, which examines how apple producers are actively preparing for future automation—a study that has garnered 76 citations and sparked important conversations about anticipatory governance in agriculture. She has also critically interrogated the notion of expertise in autonomous systems, asking whether robots can truly be considered experts in skilled tasks like wine grapevine pruning (30 citations). Her modeling work on autonomous cane pruning (31 citations) demonstrates her ability to bridge social science with technical agricultural challenges. Notably, Burch’s 2024 paper calls for a reciprocal framework that centers migrant Pacific workers in Aotearoa New Zealand’s agritech transformation plans, highlighting her commitment to ensuring that technological futures are equitable and inclusive. Her scholarship is essential reading for anyone interested in the human and social implications of agricultural automation.