Digital Transformation and the Reconfiguration of Farming Systems: Understanding How Tech-nological Adoption and Institutional Conditions Shape Sustainable and Inclusive Agriculture

Digital agriculture is progressively reshaping farming through the integration of sensors, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things technologies, digital platforms, data analytics, robotics and automated decision-support systems. This paper examines this transformation by connecting three complementary dimensions: the socio-technical development of digital agriculture, the determinants and processes of technological adoption, and the economic, organizational and inclusive consequences of digitalization for farming systems. The literature indicates that agricultural digitalization cannot be reduced to the availability of increasingly sophisticated technologies. Adoption and sustained use depend on farmers’ perceptions of usefulness and compatibility, farm resources, human capital, infrastructure, institutional support, advisory systems and the capacity to integrate technologies into established production routines. Digital technologies may improve resource efficiency, information management, productivity and sustainability, while also modifying labor organization, farmer autonomy, data governance and relationships among actors within agricultural value chains. These effects remain uneven across farms and territories, particularly where smallholders face financial, infrastructural and capability constraints. The paper therefore interprets digital agriculture as a multidimensional transformation whose outcomes depend on the interaction between technological capabilities, farmer behavior and institutional conditions. Inclusive and sustainable digitalization requires attention not only to innovation diffusion but also to governance, skills, accessibility and the distribution of technological benefits.