Why Rural Resilience Needs Ethics, Not Just Technology

Rural communities remain disproportionately exposed to economic fragility despite their central role in global food production and resource stewardship. According to the World Bank, rural areas are home to around 80 percent of the world’s extreme poor, even as they account for the majority of agricultural labor worldwide.

At the same time, the FAO estimates that agriculture still employs over 26 percent of the global workforce, highlighting a persistent imbalance between economic dependence and value capture.

Technology is frequently positioned as the answer to this gap, yet outcomes remain uneven. OECD research shows that productivity improvements alone have not been sufficient to reverse long-term rural decline, particularly where innovation is introduced without local ownership, skills development, or reinvestment. In these contexts, technological progress can reinforce existing inequalities rather than strengthen community resilience.

It is within this tension between development, ethics, sustainability and the environment, and human responsibility that Magdalena Wallhoff’s work has gained increasing relevance. Having grown up among, and worked closely with, the rural poor, she brings lived experience to debates often framed purely through policy or economic abstraction.

Her perspective challenges growth-first narratives, arguing that sustainable rural economies depend as much on identity, stewardship, and ethical leadership as they do on technology or capital.

In this exclusive interview with the Motivational Speakers Agency, Magdalena Wallhoff examines what resilience truly means for rural economies, how technology should support rather than displace human connection to land and community, and why personal responsibility remains fundamental to ethical business and long-term societal stability.

Question 1: From your experience working closely with rural communities, what does a truly resilient rural economy look like in practice, beyond policy rhetoric and high-level development goals?

Magdalena Wallhoff: Yeah, I think a lot about this. I grew up among the rural poor and then I’ve worked among the rural poor. And I think a resilient rural economy, and just society, is one where they are aware of their resources, what is rightfully theirs, what they can produce out of it, how they can maximise production out of it.

And by that I don’t mean raping the land or abusing their resources and then reinvesting in their own communities. A lot of times the rural poor are unaware of what can be made with what they have, and they are so quick to hand things over to a large multinational that is coming in and telling them that we’ll lease your land.

And they just don’t have, either they don’t have the education or the equipment to develop what is theirs, or it’s also oftentimes just propaganda. Oh, there’s more opportunities in the cities. But when I’m among the rural poor, working among them and also living among them, I realise, oh, there’s such a will to create agriculturally, but not just agriculturally. Maybe it’s tourism or whatnot.

So, it really is this, it’s the producing and the reinvesting in themselves, which has a lot to do also with identity and pride and awareness of what is theirs.

Question 2: As agriculture becomes increasingly shaped by technology, how do you see the balance between productivity gains and maintaining a meaningful human connection to the land?

Magdalena Wallhoff: Well, agriculture and tech are increasingly linked. In fact, agriculture relies more and more on technology. And I think nevertheless, we need to remember that the human needs to be tied closely to the land.

So, I think technology makes productivity easier. It actually helps us manage the land because we do gather all the statistics on what is going on. It enables fewer people to work the land, so it frees up labour capacity for other activities.

However, of course, there’s always a caveat, because I think it’s very important that we as humans remain tied to the land in our knowledge, that we really understand what is going on, but also identity, that we sense how we as humans are not mere machines, but we really live off the nature around us.

So I think there’s a purely production-oriented view, and that production-oriented view is absolutely valid, but it also needs to be tied to, let’s call it the more romantic, not even the more romantic, the very human element of that we still nevertheless need to be involved in agriculture.

Question 3: What fundamentally defines an "ethical business" today, and where do organisations most often fall short?

Magdalena Wallhoff: I’ve repeatedly spoken on ethics in business and ethics in technology, and I think what it comes down to, and maybe this sounds odd, but I really have it to this, that it takes personal courage.

Because I think we actually do know what is right when we’re running a business, or when we’re running, whether it’s in technology or agriculture. And so often we hide behind certain regulations or rules, and we don’t take personal responsibility.

But a business is as ethical as the people that run it. And it takes personal courage ultimately for each individual, whether they’re the CEO or whether they are the janitor, to do their part ethically and correctly, and to speak up when they see that there is an ethical tendency in where the company is going.

But ultimately, we are ethical beings, and we should not dismiss the responsibility that we have to whatever we’re involved in.

Question 4: When audiences leave your talks, what core mindset or perspective do you most want them to carry back into their professional and personal lives?

Magdalena Wallhoff: Well, when I speak, I often hear that people are really inspired to go back into their daily lives with a greater vision. And I think what they’re taking away, and what I hope they’re taking away, is that everything is connected.

So, agriculture and technology and AI and philosophy, and these interconnections are really interesting. And ultimately, it is up to us as individuals to be engaged citizens, to be really alive humans who care about what we’re doing.

It isn’t about our status or about our job description. We each have a role to play in this human story, and I think it’s something we can all be excited about. So, it’s both, I’d like to have them take away the interconnectedness of everything and the significance of everything that we do.

This exclusive interview with Magdalena Wallhoff was conducted by Jack Hayes of the Champions Speakers Agency.