Toward Smart Agrotourism: Co-Creating a Living Lab for Premium Melon Farming

Abstract

Digital monitoring makes farm activity easier to observe, but adding technology does not by itself make a working farm an experiential learning setting. Smart agrotourism also depends on whether digital systems fit local governance and everyday cultivation. This paper examines the formation of a premium-melon Living Lab in Kebonagung, Bantul, Indonesia, during the pre-harvest and pre-tourism period. We used a qualitative, process-oriented single-case design and examined project documents, WhatsApp communications, field logs, digital monitoring records, and photographs collected from March to September 2026. The findings show that co-creation developed through adaptations prompted by field conditions. Physical, agronomic, and spatial constraints brought academic teams, students, village authorities, and local youth into shared decisions and changes in responsibility. Knowledge was brought together by repeatedly checking sensor readings against manual agronomic references and observed irrigation outcomes. The case offers a grounded pathway for rural initiatives by keeping pre-tourism formation separate from later tourism performance. It also shows why local caretaking arrangements and data-validation procedures need to be clear before project handover.