dc.contributor.author | Wiseman, Leanne | |
dc.contributor.author | Cockburn, Tina | |
dc.contributor.author | Sanderson, Jay | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2019-02-03T23:32:45Z | |
dc.date.available | 2019-02-03T23:32:45Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2018 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1449-2210 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10072/382093 | |
dc.description.abstract | With the increasing world population placing greater and greater pressure on
food production, the issue of food security is high on the world agenda. In the
search for strategies to address this looming crisis, attention is being drawn to
the power of new digital and autonomous technologies to increase agricultural
productivity: “the next leg of food production growth will come from greater
precision in agriculture, with advances in hardware, software and computing
power converging with technologies like self-driving tractors and drones to
help farmers feed humanity's next century. (Revich, 2015)
Along with the growth in precision farming, there has been the increasing
automation of processes and farm machinery. Goldman Sachs said it sees a
$240-billion market for automation on the farm and the predicted $45-billion
market for small driverless tractors alone is evidence of this. (Revich, 2015)
The potential economic impact that these new autonomous technologies will
have in Australian agriculture has not gone unnoticed (Perrett, 2017) however
to date there has been little attention paid to the potential legal consequences
of autonomous farming.
The aim of this paper is to do just that: to highlight the potential legal
consequences of the introduction of autonomous machines and technologies
into Australian agriculture. As autonomous and robotic equipment use
increases so too will the rate of incidents or accidents involving such
autonomous and robotic equipment.
We will focus on the potential legal issues that may arise where an
autonomous farming machinery causes an incident or accident that results in
legal action for compensation for personal injury and/or property damage and
discuss how the current laws in Australia are likely to respond. Legal issues
relating to potential criminal liability; workers compensation and specifically
the CASA regulations around the use of drones claims are beyond the scope
of this paper. While more transparency and equity in the contractual
provisions that are governing liabilities for these new technologies will improve
understanding in the sector of the legal consequences, we conclude by
suggesting that is some cases the strength of the Australia’s consumer laws
may give some confidence of compensation to those who suffer harm caused
by autonomous farming equipment. However, as is happening in other
countries, we argue it is time for a review of the current schemes of
compensation available for loss or injuries caused by autonomous farm
machinery, keeping in mind those who are using these technologies are
ultimately contributing to a food secure future. | |
dc.description.peerreviewed | Yes | |
dc.language | English | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.publisher | Australian Farm Institute | |
dc.publisher.uri | http://www.farminstitute.org.au/publications/journal/farm-policy-journal | |
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom | 37 | |
dc.relation.ispartofpageto | 46 | |
dc.relation.ispartofissue | 2 | |
dc.relation.ispartofjournal | Farm Policy Journal | |
dc.relation.ispartofvolume | 15 | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearch | Tort Law | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearch | Agriculture, Land and Farm Management | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearch | Law | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode | 180126 | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode | 0701 | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode | 1801 | |
dc.title | Legal consequences of autonomous farming | |
dc.type | Journal article | |
dc.type.description | C1 - Articles | |
dc.type.code | C - Journal Articles | |
dc.description.version | Version of Record (VoR) | |
gro.faculty | Arts, Education & Law Group, Griffith Law School | |
gro.rights.copyright | © 2018 Australian Farm Institute. This publication is protected by copyright laws. The publication may be reproduced in whole or in part for study purposes subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source and no commercial usage or sale. Reproduction for purposes other than that indicated above requires the written permission of the Executive Director, Australian Farm Institute, Suite 73, 61 Marlborough Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010, AUSTRALIA. | |
gro.hasfulltext | Full Text | |
gro.griffith.author | Wiseman, Leanne G. | |