Over the last several decades, sources of income derived away from farms have come to play a much bigger role in rural Indonesian households. How do rural people in Indonesia engage with farming and social and economic spheres beyond their villages? What do their changing forms of engagement mean for land relations, sustainability, and the future of agrarian communities?

Jeff Neilson’s Fortress Farming: Agrarian Transitions, Livelihoods, and Coffee Value Chains in Indonesia (Cornell UP, 2025) offers an explanation that centers on a defensive livelihood strategy observed among, in particular, coffee producing smallholders. This livelihood strategy, understood as “fortress farming”, is undertaken by smallholder households that are reluctant to maximize production despite their engagement with major coffee roasting companies. Instead, they maintain their small farms to defend themselves from insecurity while pursuing sources of wealth off farm. The book considers the implications of fortress farming for broader structural reforms and illuminates how social institutions shape forms of capitalist agriculture.

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Afra Jalabi

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