Youth, startups and entrepreneurialism: A typology of agro-digital landscape in Indonesia

Keywords: agrodigital landscapes, rural sociology, assemblage, Indonesia
Session Type: Virtual Paper
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 4/11/2021 11:10 AM (Pacific Time (US & Canada)) - 4/11/2021 12:25 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 42

Abstract

The growth of smart farming, Internet of Things, big data and virtual agricultural market places in Indonesia has been extraordinary within the past couple of years. This agricultural transformation, as many have argued, is much influenced by the current global moves towards digital technology (the so-called Industrial Revolution 4.0) and has the potential to alter the agri-food landscape in the future. Although hopes and concerns have been raised as to the fate of our food future, as if this new ‘monster’ emerged as a disruptive wave of entirely new food regime, scholars pay less attention to how the agro-digital landscapes have become so diverse and variegated – and what causes them. This paper argues that the assemblage of these landscapes in Indonesia are constructed upon the past and existing social relations in the country, touching on some of the more classical rural sociological narratives that include changing rural structure, unequal power balance in the commodity chains, and the changing modes of governance, all of which are linked to a significant rise of urban youth in the country. This helps to explain Indonesian rather peculiar configurations of digital agriculture.