Are Cooperatives Intermediaries of Agriculture’s Digital Transformation?

Digitalisation is seen as a means of achieving sustainable transformation of agricultural and food systems, as well as contributing to agroecological dynamics. However, this view remains controversial, particularly with regard to knowledge and effective dissemination of digital tools on farms. This paper aims to examine mechanisms for agricultural digital tools diffusion by the intermediation of cooperatives. Mainly, it explores the extent to which these organisations are able to drive digital innovation by acting as innovation intermediaries. This research is based on 20 interviews with wine and fruits and vegetables cooperative directors and technical staff, mainly located in Occitanie (France). A content analysis, supplemented by a clustering method, revealed the involvement of cooperatives at different stages of the digitalisation process through various actions and strategies of intermediation, and highlighted different intermediation profiles. This research also highlights the key role of cooperatives and advisers in the linking of digitalisation to agroecological issues.