Digitalization can transform the economy, including food systems, for the better Digital innovations improve productivity and strengthen links with product and service markets. A range of new technologies in the agricultural sector promises to revolutionize production models, thanks to new ways of gathering, storing, handling, transferring and analysing large volumes of data. 

Digital ecosystems contain public and private goods that are essential for the benefits and full potential of digital innovation to be realized. With regard to public goods, the appropriate telecommunications infrastructure and digital literacy are now critical for inclusive development in rural areas (Sotomayor, Ramírez and Martínez, 2021).

They are fundamental for progress in creating goods such as public information, online communities and technological applications and devices, which are needed for decision-making, technology transfer, connections with markets and the mechanization and automation of tasks. Given the critical role of infrastructure and digital literacy in accessing new technologies, one might expect a high degree of uniformity across countries; this assumption largely holds true in the most developed economies. In Latin America and the Caribbean, however, there are significant differences both within and between countries —in their geography, population, economy and institutions— that influence the development of telecommunications infrastructure and the feasibility of providing training in the use of digital technologies