A Methodology for Process Modelling in Living Labs to Foster Agricultural Digitalisation

Agricultural digitalisation presents socio-economic and technical challenges with double-edged effects, generating potential winners and losers. To minimise the risk of undesired consequences, it is important to early evaluate its impacts by adopting an interdisciplinary approach. This paper presents a methodology for conducting socio-technical process modelling in living labs, i.e., co-design environments constituted around an emerging problem, in agricultural areas. The methodology foresees the development of diagrams based on formal notations from software engineering and a step-by-step procedure for the co-creation of the models. To consolidate the methodology, we apply it to the case study of Pecorino Toscano, a living lab presently evaluating different technological solutions for livestock and cheese production. This preliminary evaluation reveals that the adopted approach is sufficiently flexible and effective for information exchange, and can be successfully applied in a co-design environment.