Olivia Spykman
Co-tutored Ph.D. Student
Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Animal Husbandry
Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LfL)
Workgroup Digital Farming
Hans-Loher-Str. 32, 94099 Ruhstorf a.d. Rott
Tel: +49 (0) 8161 8640 4653
E-Mail: olivia.spykman[at]lfl.bayern.de
Project
Socio-economic evaluation of field crop robots
Thesis advisory committee: Supervisor PD Dr. Markus Gandorfer (LfL), Examiner Prof. Senthold Asseng (TUM), Mentor Prof. James Lowenberg-DeBoer (Harper Adams University)
Career
Olivia Spykman completed her Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts and Sciences, with a focus on Energy, Climate, and Sustainability, at Amsterdam University College (Netherlands). She then completed her Master's degree in Agricultural Sciences, with a focus on Agricultural Economics, at the Technical University of Munich. Since July 2019, she is part of the Digital Farming group at the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LfL) in Ruhstorf an der Rott and has been working on her PhD as an external doctoral student at TU Munich since September 2020. Additionally, she has been leading an interdisciplinary seminar at LfL Ruhstorf since 2020 and co-organized the Digital Agriculture for Sustainable Food Systems start-up challenge (2020-2022).
Research areas
As part of her PhD, Olivia Spykman is working on the socio-economic evaluation of crop robots. This includes the investigation of the acceptance among farmers as well as in the society at large, which was followed by a three-year documentation of labor requirements for crop robot operations in a strip cropping system (www.future-crop-farming.de/english-summary/ ). The economic evaluation with a focus on labor efficiency will be complemented by an environmental economic perspective.
Publications
Melzer, M., Spykman, O., Bellingrath-Kimura, S. (2025): Beetle bank-positioning on sloped farmland to promote water retention and biodiversity in fam management information systems for agri-environmental schemes. Biological Conservation, 302, 110999. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2025.110999.
Spykman, O., Emberger-Klein, A., Gabriel, A., Gandorfer, M. (2022): Autonomous agriculture in public perception - German consumer segments’ view of crop robots. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 202, 107385, DOI: 10.1016/j.compag.2022.107385.
Spykman, O., Gabriel, A., Ptacek, M., Gandorfer, M. (2021): Farmers’ perspectives on field crop robots – Evidence from Bavaria, Germany. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Volume 186, July 2021, 106176. doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2021.106176
Gabriel, A., Gandorfer, M., Spykman, O. (2021): Nutzung und Hemmnisse digitaler Technologien in der Landwirtschaft - Sichtweisen aus der Praxis und in den Fachmedien, Berichte über Landwirtschaft, 99 (1), Mai 2021, S. 1-27. doi.org/10.12767/buel.v99i1.328
Pfeiffer, J., Spykman, O., & Gandorfer, M. (2021). Sensor and Video: Two Complementary Approaches for Evaluation of Dairy Cow Behavior after Calving Sensor Attachment. Animals, 11(7), 1917. doi.org/10.3390/ani11071917
Talks
Visualizing the economics of sustainable farming practices
44. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Informatik in der Land-, Forst- und Ernährungswirtschaft e.V. (GIL) in Hohenheim. 27.02.2024
Evaluating the impact of government investment support for crop robots: a multi method approach
6th Symposium on Agri-Tech Economics for Sustainable Futures. Harper Adams University (UK), 18.09.2023
Wirtschaftlichkeitsbewertung eines Feldroboters auf Basis erster Erfahrungen im Praxiseinsatz
43. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Informatik in der Land-, Forst- und Ernährungswirtschaft e.V. (GIL) in Osnabrück, 13.-14.02.2023
Erste Praxiserfahrung mit einem Feldroboter – Ergebnisse einer Fokusgruppendiskussion mit early adopters
43. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Informatik in der Land-, Forst- und Ernährungswirtschaft e.V. (GIL) in Osnabrück, 13.-14.02.2023
Feldrobotik: Ökonomik und Akzeptanz
75. Tagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Lebensmittel-, Veterinär- und Agrarwesen (ALVA) in Wieselburg, Österreich
5.10.2021
Society’s perspective on automation in crop and dairy production
2021 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting in Austin, TX, USA
27.08.2021, online
The impact of regulation on autonomous crop equipment in Europe
13th European Conference on Precision Agriculture (ECPA) in Budapest, Ungarn
21.07.2021, pre-recorded/online
Society’s view on autonomous agriculture: does digitalization lead to alienation?
EFITA digital agriculture web conference (European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment)
25.-26.05.2021, pre-recorded/online
Feldroboter aus Sicht der Gesellschaft – Auswertung eines Discrete Choice Experiments
Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Informatik in der Land-, Forst- und Ernährungswirtschaft e.V. (GIL)
08.03.2020, online