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There is great diversity in the methods, terms, and empirical focuses employed by social and natural scientists working on agroecological transitions. The upshot is that whilst various researchers may nominally be putting their shoulder to the same agroecological wheel, the impact of their combined efforts is not what it might be. The aim of this article is to assist in the co-ordination and collaboration of disparate research activities and actors. It does so by offering the readers of this journal a user-friendly guide to someof the terms being used by social scientists (particularly human geographers and anthropologists) in their work on pests, diseases, crop protections and agroecological transitions. Such a document is of particular use as the terms and concepts employed by social scientists are equipped to generate analysis with explicit political insight in a way that those used by natural scientists may not be. The concepts and theories of social scientists foreground the commonalities that cut across case studies which might otherwise seem separated by a reservoir of context specificity. Tooled with these terms of analysis, the promise of agroecology rightly becomes something with far reaching political and justice consequences. These terms are presented across five areas: the ontological, the epistemological, the methodological, the historical, and the aesthetic. Given the range of social, ecological, cultural, and economic barriers involved in effecting an agroecological transition, it is vital that different researchers are conversant in each other's language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agroecology is a term that has an epistemic or emancipatory power, insofar as it is capable of creating new knowledge and alternative views to the vision imposed by the capital of the world and nature. The four experiences that will be analyzed in this article, are located in some way in what is called the agroecological transition processes. Although, in principle, this term is strongly associated with the development of agricultural practices and focuses on productive, ecological and technological elements that may be useful to advance in the agroecological transition processes, it is necessary to expand the dimensions to other levels related to the daily life of the actors who carry out these practices. Precisely the present work seeks to contribute elements to understand the forms that agroecological transitions can assume, based on four ongoing experiences that are located in the province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina. As a final contribution, the main dimensions that are transversal to them and are of great importance for accompanying transition processes and the subsequent design of social, economic, ecological and/or technical alternatives are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agroecology is a sustainable farming method that has the potential to revolutionize the global agricultural sector by promoting cleaner and more environmentally friendly practices. However, the question of how to effectively transition to a sustainable agroecology system remains a topic of debate, particularly in developing economies. In many developing countries, subsistence farming plays a crucial role in supporting the livelihoods of countless households. Therefore, it is essential to explore the connection between food self-provisioning and the shift towards agroecology. Using primary data from rural Nigeria and by applying an ordered logistic regression, the study demonstrates that when farmers are primarily dependent on their own produce for sustenance, there is a natural inclination towards methods ensuring long-term soil health and ecological balance. We observed that self-provisioning leads to a 10.9 % increase in agroecology transition, and this result was statistically significant (P-value 0.001). This paradigm not only promotes sustainable agricultural practices but also underscores a holistic approach where agriculture coexists harmoniously with nature. As the global challenges of climate change and increasing food demand loom large, understanding and supporting these farmer-driven solutions become paramount. The results beckon policymakers and stakeholders to frame strategies grounded in farmers' intrinsic motivations, ensuring a sustainable agricultural future that is ecologically viable, culturally resonant, and economically beneficial.

There is great diversity in the methods, terms, and empirical focuses employed by social and natural scientists working on agroecological transitions. The upshot is that whilst various researchers may nominally be putting their shoulder to the same agroecological wheel, the impact of their combined efforts is not what it might be. The aim of this article is to assist in the co-ordination and collaboration of disparate research activities and actors. It does so by offering the readers of this journal a user-friendly guide to some of the terms being used by social scientists (particularly human geographers and anthropologists) in their work on pests, diseases, crop protections and agroecological transitions. Such a document is of particular use as the terms and concepts employed by social scientists are equipped to generate analysis with explicit political insight in a way that those used by natural scientists may not be. The concepts and theories of social scientists foreground the commonalities that cut across case studies which might otherwise seem separated by a reservoir of context specificity. Tooled with these terms of analysis, the promise of agroecology rightly becomes something with far reaching political and justice consequences. These terms are presented across five areas: the ontological, the epistemological, the methodological, the historical, and the aesthetic. Given the range of social, ecological, cultural, and economic barriers involved in effecting an agroecological transition, it is vital that different researchers are conversant in each other’s language.

In the Mekong Region, agroecological approaches provide a niche alternative to the dominant traditional or intensive farming systems. We conducted a synthesis of current evidence on agroecological interventions by means of a systematic literature review and mapping of case studies in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. The majority of the 271 identified cases focussed on practical and technical support. Interventions using holistic approaches, and such that focused on improving food systems through innovative territorial governance, value chain arrangements, and policy frameworks were scarce. Most cases targeted the agroecological optimization and the modernization of traditional farming systems. A mere 18 of our cases addressed gender in relation to agroecology. To scale agroecological transitions, sectoral barriers have to be overcome. There is an urgent need to put a pronounced focus on the diversification of ecosystem services in commercial agriculture and degraded areas and on women's contributions to sustainable farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the negative environmental, social and health impacts of the current food system have been acknowledged and evidenced for several decades, the recent and current transformations in food systems at diverse scales are not yet addressing the many inter-related stakes at play. Due to the much wider set of interactions in this consumptionproduction system, new conceptual tools are required for understanding and assessing sustainability transitions and what prevents them. The article will draw on the cases of France and the UK to examine these countries' national food systems' historical trajectories and suggest a periodization of these in order to reveal common characteristics and differences. This will show that despite common major trends and common transition or inertia mechanisms, pathways differ, especially from the 1990s, due to different configurations of power relationships between the state, economic actors and civil society in a context of an increasing competition between sustainability narratives that leads to an increasing fragmentation in food systems. It will lead us to join the recent progress in the sustainability transitions' community towards a shift in the analysis from a focus on niches' trajectories and effects to a deeper focus on power configurations and competing narratives, as well as to suggest a larger inclusion of socioecological and spatial dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is aimed at analyzing the potential that CAP 2014–2020-related instruments have on supporting agroecological transitions in Europe by focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of key instruments. Through a stepwise participatory research methodology, 105 key stakeholders (farmers, advisors, academics, environment experts, administration representatives, and professionals from food chains) in 15 countries in Europe were engaged in the discussion of the potential of current CAP instruments to solve the barriers that constrain agroecological farming systems in their particular regions. The results of this comparative study show which CAP instruments are valued with a high potential to support transitions to agroecology. The analysis of the stakeholders' perceptions contributes to an enhanced understanding of why CAP instruments have failed or succeeded to promote agroecological transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the novel character of disturbances caused by the pandemic in food systems, initial studies have been conducted to stress the reinforced urgent need for food systems' transformation toward sustainability. First assessments, conducted in the early months of the pandemic, found that local food actors responded to changing production and marketing conditions by implementing alternative practices under the umbrella of agroecology. However, given the unprecedented and dynamic character of the pandemic in regional situations, and related context-specific changes caused in food system actors' operations, case studies are needed to assess in more detail under which changing conditions food actors implemented alternative practices. Moreover, the maintenance of practices as conditions normalize, and food actors' transformative potential in relation to the principles of agroecology, need further assessment. In response to these emerging issues, we provide insights into our case study research conducted during 2021 in a local food system in Argentina. The aim of this research was to study how changing conditions triggered local food actors to (re-)frame their objectives and activities regarding marketing, and to assess the relevance of agroecological principles as a means of responding to changing conditions and to unfold longer-term transitions. We identified local producer shops (n = 5) and markets (n = 4) that were established or consolidated by self-organized producer groups (SOPGs) during the first months of the pandemic. Using semi-structured interviews with SOPG members (n = 12) and qualitative content analysis, we found that alternative practices were adopted in response to different changing conditions, and new needs and opportunities for producers and consumers brought about by the pandemic. Objectives pursued, and activities undertaken by the groups revealed reactive short-term mitigation strategies, and proactive longer-term transformative objectives. The relational analysis between practices and agroecological principles showed that the principles became important means of responding to changing conditions and to unfold longer-term transitions. The cases illustrate how local food actors operationalized agroecological principles, and in turn how principles can be used to investigate the nature and potentials of food actors' alternative practices, highlighting the relevance of agroecology to co-design sustainability transitions in local food systems and to mitigate possible future crisis.

Natural wine is made from grapes produced under organic or biodynamic management without using additives in the cellar. Natural wine represents a movement of winegrowers that see agriculture as an ethical act against wine industrialization and as a way to make food systems more sustainable. The movement has gained fast-growing global fame and connects rural producers with urban consumers. The recent French recognition of a natural wine certification has spurred discontent among other European countries and wine business associations. A debate about the policy implications of natural wine certification is necessary in order to shed light on the matter. This article calls for transparency in the labeling of wine ingredients, in line with recent consumer demands, which would make the creation of new certifications redundant.

Wider and more profitable legume crop cultivation is an indispensable step for the agroecological transition of global agri-food systems but represents a challenge especially in Europe. Plant breeding is pivotal in this context. Research areas of key interest are represented by innovative phenotypic and genome-based selection procedures for crop yield, tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses enhanced by the changing climate, intercropping, and emerging crop quality traits. We see outmost priority in the exploration of genomic selection (GS) opportunities and limitations, to ease genetic gains and to limit the costs of multi-trait selection. Reducing the profitability gap of legumes relative to major cereals will not be possible in Europe without public funding devoted to crop improvement research, pre-breeding, and, in various circumstances, public breeding. While most of these activities may profit of significant public-private partnerships, all of them can provide substantial benefits to seed companies. A favorable institutional context may comprise some changes to variety registration tests and procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wider and more profitable legume crop cultivation is an indispensable step for the agroecological transition of global agri-food systems but represents a challenge especially in Europe. Plant breeding is pivotal in this context. Research areas of key interest are represented by innovative phenotypic and genome-based selection procedures for crop yield, tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses enhanced by the changing climate, intercropping, and emerging crop quality traits. We see outmost priority in the exploration of genomic selection (GS) opportunities and limitations, to ease genetic gains and to limit the costs of multi-trait selection. Reducing the profitability gap of legumes relative to major cereals will not be possible in Europe without public funding devoted to crop improvement research, pre-breeding, and, in various circumstances, public breeding. While most of these activities may profit of significant public-private partnerships, all of them can provide substantial benefits to seed companies. A favorable institutional context may comprise some changes to variety registration tests and procedures.

Agroecology is a sustainable farming method that has the potential to revolutionize the global agricultural sector by promoting cleaner and more environmentally friendly practices. However, the question of how to effectively transition to a sustainable agroecology system remains a topic of debate, particularly in developing economies. In many developing countries, subsistence farming plays a crucial role in supporting the livelihoods of countless households. Therefore, it is essential to explore the connection between food self-provisioning and the shift towards agroecology. Using primary data from rural Nigeria and by applying an ordered logistic regression, the study demonstrates that when farmers are primarily dependent on their own produce for sustenance, there is a natural inclination towards methods ensuring long-term soil health and ecological balance. We observed that self-provisioning leads to a 10.9 % increase in agroecology transition, and this result was statistically significant (P-value 0.001). This paradigm not only promotes sustainable agricultural practices but also underscores a holistic approach where agriculture coexists harmoniously with nature. As the global challenges of climate change and increasing food demand loom large, understanding and supporting these farmer-driven solutions become paramount. The results beckon policymakers and stakeholders to frame strategies grounded in farmers' intrinsic motivations, ensuring a sustainable agricultural future that is ecologically viable, culturally resonant, and economically beneficial., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests. Chukwuma Ume reports financial support was provided by Foundation fiat panis. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

The magnitude and urgency of the challenges facing agriculture and food systems demand profound modifications in different aspects of human activity to achieve real transformative change and sustainability. Recognizing that the inherent complexity of achieving sustainability is commonly seen as a deterrent to decision-making, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has approved the 10 Elements of Agroecology as an analytical framework to support the design of differentiated paths for agriculture and food systems transformation, hence facilitating improved decision-making by policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders in differing contexts at a range of levels on a number of scales. Biodiversity, consumers, education and governance are identified as promising entry points to build a structured process using visual narratives that rely on the 10 Elements of Agroecology to graphically dissect prospective social-ecological transition trajectories. We illustrate such applications with examples from agroforestry worldwide, public food procurement in Brazil and the United States of America, and agroecology education vis-à-vis secure access to land in Senegal. Nexus approaches are used to highlight and examine salient interactions among different sectors and entry points, and to develop visual narratives describing plausible theories of transformative change towards sustainable agriculture and food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that policy makers and governments are promoting the development of diverse agro-bio food systems to push and promote sustainability, they are challenging to implement because of a series of obstacles that hinder a successful transition from a conventional to an agro-ecological model of agriculture. Produce is extremely heterogeneous and agricultural technology is often not standard, rather alternative, and knowledge is contextual, tacit and place-specific. However, information about the characteristics of these systems is still sparse and difficult to analyse because of the complexity and multidimensionality. As a result, the aim of this paper is to review the existing literature in order to identify a coding system that allows for the creation of a meta-database of case studies on agroecological transitions. This coding system will be piloted in six case studies dealing with agrobiodiversity along cereal food systems producing grains, bread and pasta in France, Italy and the UK. In this analysis, we found that both the transition towards sustainable agriculture and the reduction of transaction costs require social innovation, which benefits from strong social capital. In the conclusions, we discuss the efficacy of the proposed coding scheme and its ability to capture in-depth information contained in similar case studies.

In recent years, the transition to sustainability at a food systems' scale has drawn major attention both from the scientific and political arenas. Agroecology has become central to such discussions, while impressive efforts have been made to conceptualize the agroecology scaling process. It has thus become necessary to apply the concept of agroecology transitions to the scale of food systems and in different "real-world" contexts. Scaling local agroecology experiences of production, distribution, and consumption, which are often disconnected and/or disorganized, also reveals emergent research gaps. A critical review was performed in order to establish a transdisciplinary dialogue between both political agroecology and the literature on sustainable food systems. The objective was to build insights into how to advance towards Agroecology-based Local Agri-food Systems (ALAS). Our review unveils emergent questions such as: how to overcome the metabolic rift related to segregated activities along the food chain, how to feed cities sustainably, and how they should relate to the surrounding territories, which social subjects should drive such transitions, and which governance arrangements would be needed. The paper argues in favor of the re-construction of food metabolisms, territorial flows, plural subjects and (bottom-up) governance assemblages, placing life at the center of the food system and going beyond the rural–urban divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that policy makers and governments are promoting the development of diverse agro-bio food systems to push and promote sustainability, they are challenging to implement because of a series of obstacles that hinder a successful transition from a conventional to an agro-ecological model of agriculture. Produce is extremely heterogeneous and agricultural technology is often not standard, rather alternative, and knowledge is contextual, tacit and place-specific. However, information about the characteristics of these systems is still sparse and difficult to analyse because of the complexity and multidimensionality. As a result, the aim of this paper is to review the existing literature in order to identify a coding system that allows for the creation of a meta-database of case studies on agroecological transitions. This coding system will be piloted in six case studies dealing with agrobiodiversity along cereal food systems producing grains, bread and pasta in France, Italy and the UK. In this analysis, we found that both the transition towards sustainable agriculture and the reduction of transaction costs require social innovation, which benefits from strong social capital. In the conclusions, we discuss the efficacy of the proposed coding scheme and its ability to capture in-depth information contained in similar case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to reconnect agriculture, environment, food, and health when addressing agrifood system transitions is widely acknowledged. However, most analytical frameworks, especially in the expanding literature about "system approaches", rely on impact-based approaches and, thus, tend to overlook ecological processes as well as social ones. This article aims at demonstrating that a territorial approach to agrifood system transitions is more appropriate to tackle the reconnection between agriculture, food, environment, and health than the larger scales (global or national food systems) or the smaller ones (such as those of alternative food systems) usually addressed in the literature. Co-elaborated by a sociologist, an ecologist, and a nutritionist, this article is based on a focused analysis of the literature that has addressed agrifood system transitions in the food and health sciences and in the social sciences and on the reflexive analysis of two past projects dealing with such transitions. It shows that a territorial approach allows including in the analysis the diverse agrifood systems' components as well the ecological and social processes that may create functionalities for improving agrifood systems' sustainability. This territorial approach is based on systemic and processual thinking and on a transdisciplinary perspective combining an objectification stance and a pragmatist constructivist one. It should allow actors and researchers to build a shared understanding of the transition processes within their shared territorial agrifood system, despite possibly different and diverging views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The much-needed transformations of agrifood systems call for novel approaches that are able to bring together a diversity of actors’ and institutions’ knowledge and visions. While within the literature about participatory research and transdisciplinarity, many articles have discussed the issue of actor involvement, few have addressed it regarding agrifood system transitions, which are the focus of this paper. Inspired by recent work suggesting a pragmatist approach to stakeholder involvement and collective processes of problem framing and solving, this study (based on a reflexive analysis of six different projects involving different approaches to stakeholder involvement) developed an actor-oriented approach focused on what the motivations to enroll actors and for them to be enrolled are, and on the analysis of the diverse visions and controversies at play. The main outcome of this analysis is that a key issue regarding stakeholder involvement appears to be whether the diverse stakeholders and researchers involved share the sense of being part of a “community of fate” that makes them feel individually “affected” but also collectively “attached” to a shared problem and possibly to a shared future. This is not fixed and stable but can be reinforced through the research–action process itself, which should produce this collective attachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]