AI, skills and labour markets
Using labour-market data, job postings and task-based indicators to examine how AI and digital technologies change skills, occupations and workforce transitions.
About
I am a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading. My research connects labour economics, AI and data science and socio-economics and environmental sustainability transitions in agri-food systems. I work across academic, policy and industry contexts. Before my PhD, I worked in public policy in Chile as an Agricultural Economist in the Ministry of Agriculture and later as Head of the Department of Information Assurance in the Ministry of Social Development, where I led multidisciplinary teams and data-driven policy tools.
Research themes
My work is organised around four connected areas.
Agri-tech economics
Evaluating adoption, productivity and economic feasibility of robotics, digital agriculture, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) and automation in agri-food systems.
Sustainable agri-food productivity
Developing indicators and empirical methods to integrate productivity measurement with environmental pressures, and evaluating diversification strategies.
Food-system transitions
Assessing future agri-food systems, circular economy approaches, farm diversification and sustainability scenarios across European agri-food systems.
Selected projects
Current and recent externally funded research leadership and collaboration.
SOILBIOMASS+
Multi-partner European project on sustainable biomass production, soil health restoration, land-use transitions and decision-support for policy and practice (starting September 2026).
sustAInable
AI-driven research programme examining how data science and AI can support sustainable agri-food futures, with attention to skills, research capacity and labour-market transformation.
AI4CEA / UK–EU pump priming
Development of UK–EU collaborations around AI, digital decision-support and sustainable controlled environment agriculture.
PATHWAYS
Economic and technical assessment of future livestock systems, including sustainability indicators, scenario analysis and policy-relevant evidence. Deliverable 2.2 and 5.3 Leader
Enhancing Agricultural Productivity Measurement for UK Agriculture
Development of total factor productivity (TFP) indicators that integrate market outputs, inputs and environmental pressures such as emissions and nutrient surpluses.
Agriculture 4.0, robotics and labour-market transformation
Research on how robotics, AI and digital agriculture affect work, skills, productivity and technology adoption in agri-food systems.
UK King Prawn / AD–RAS integration
Research on integrating anaerobic digesters and recirculating aquaculture systems for UK-grown prawns, including economic feasibility and willingness-to-pay analysis.
Selected publications and research outputs
Selected outputs aligned with my current research agenda on AI, agri-tech, labour markets, productivity and sustainable agri-food systems.
AI, agri-tech and labour-market transformation
Campos-González, J. 2025. The impact on the skill premium of the task content of jobs: Evidence from online job ads. Estudios de Economía, 52(1), 133-189.
Campos-González, J. 2025. Natural disasters and technological upgrading: Estimating the impacts on demand for ICT labour with text. Natural Hazards, 121, 911-957.
Campos-González, J. and K. Balcombe. 2024. The race between education and technology in Chile and its impact on the skill premium. Economic Modelling, 131, 106616.
Pérez-Silva, R. and J. Campos-González. 2021. Agriculture 4.0? Studying the evidence for routinisation in Chilean agriculture. International Journal of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 48(3), 233-247.
Campos-González, J., Y. Gadanakis, R. Pérez-Silva and D. Iakovidis. 2024. How fast is Agriculture 4.0 advancing in the UK? An analysis using employment routine intensity. Proceedings of the 7th Symposium on Agri-Tech Economics for Sustainable Futures.
Agri-food systems, sustainability and circular economy
Campos-González, J., Y. Gadanakis, T. Sanders, M. Mancini and I. Bateman. 2025. Transforming arable and dairy farming systems by adopting Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) to address the demand for sustainable profitability, environment, and diets. Cogent Food & Agriculture, 11(1).
Morello, T., Y. Gadanakis, J. Campos-González, M. Mancini, K. Howe, D. Tingley and I. Bateman. 2025. Sequestering Carbon Without Reducing Food Production: The Role of Recirculating Aquaculture Systems in Mitigating Carbon Leakage. Ecological Economics, 237, 108692.
Campos-González, J., Y. Gadanakis, M. Mancini and I. Bateman. 2023. Modelling the economic performance of Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) at the farm level. Proceedings of the 97th Annual Conference, Agricultural Economics Society.
Productivity, innovation and decision-support
Gadanakis, Y., J. Campos-González and P. Jones. 2024. Linking Entrepreneurship to Productivity: Using a Composite Indicator for Farm-Level Innovation in UK Agriculture with Secondary Data. Agriculture, 14(3), 409.
Iakovidis, D., Y. Gadanakis, J. Campos-González and J. Park. 2024. Optimising Decision Support Tools for the Agricultural Sector. Environment, Development and Sustainability.
Campos-González, J. 2026. Estimating a Prototype Enhancing Agricultural Productivity Measurement for the UK. 8th Symposium on Agri-Tech Economics for Sustainable Futures, Harper Adams.
Full publication list: ORCID, Google Scholar, and CV.
Recent talks and conference presentations
Selected invited talks, expert engagement and conference contributions.
Invited talks and expert engagement
Invited speaker. EU Livestock 2030: Aligning Policy, Practice & Consumer Expectations. Talk: "Economics and sustainability of livestock production". European Parliament, Brussels, March 2026. Presentation available in YouTube.
Invited speaker and policy panel participant. How can the nature-based solutions approach help build sustainable food systems?. Talk: "PATHWAYS framework as a tool to evaluate trade-offs and synergies in agri-food transitions". NetworkNature, Brussels, March 2026. Presentation available in YouTube (from 2:07:00).
Invited expert. Demystifying AI. Talk: "Expert contribution to the Demystifying AI programme". Association for Science and Discovery Centres, UK, January 2026. Programme details.
Conference presentations
Talk. "Estimating a Prototype Enhancing Agricultural Productivity Measurement for the UK". 8th Symposium on Agri-Tech Economics for Sustainable Futures, Global Institute for Agri-Tech Economics, Harper Adams, 15-16 January 2026.
Talk. "Behind the Scores: Evaluating Sustainability Constructs and Farm Structural Factors in European Livestock Systems". EEAP 2025, Innsbruck, Austria, 25 August 2025.
Poster. "Integrating consumers' attitudes towards UK-grown King Prawn, integrating anaerobic digestors (AD) and recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) at arable and dairy farms". LEAP Conference 2025, University of Oxford, 7 April 2025.
Talk and Scientific Committee member. "Agriculture 4.0 deployment in the UK". 7th Symposium on Agri-Tech Economics for Sustainable Futures, University of Reading, UK, 28-29 September 2024.
Talk. "Economics of Diversification at arable and dairy farms in the UK". 97th Annual Conference, Agricultural Economics Society, University of Warwick, UK, 2023.
For partners, prospective PhD and postgraduate students
I collaborate with universities, research institutes, companies, policy organisations and international partners on AI, agri-food systems, sustainable productivity, labour-market analytics and research proposal development.
I am particularly interested in partnerships on AI impacts on labour markets, agri-tech adoption, sustainable agri-food system transitions, environmental productivity indicators, and policy-facing evidence for Chile, the UK, and the rest of Latin America and Europe.
I also welcome enquiries from prospective PhD and postgraduate students interested in topics related to:
- AI and labour-market impacts in agri-food systems
- technology adoption and Agriculture 4.0/5.0
- agricultural productivity and competitiveness
- sustainability and resilience in agri-food systems
- applied econometrics, text analysis and data science
I am also interested in identifying candidates to supervise towards an MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship or others at the University of Reading. Here a link to the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship application guidance.
CV
A current academic CV is available as a PDF.
Contact
Email: jorge.camposgonzalez@reading.ac.uk
Affiliation: School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, UK