The science and practice of agroecology Pathway to sustainable food systems

Description

The planet’s reliance on industrial agriculture has resulted in serious environmental and social costs, including high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity loss and widening gaps in food security across the world. Transitioning to agroecological practices is recognised as one solution to reversing the unsustainable trajectory of energy-intensive food systems.

The science and practice of agroecology: Pathway to sustainable food systems reviews where we are in terms of the ecological theory underpinning agroecosystem function, the synergies, yield and other tradeoffs involved in practical agroecosystems as well as their social dimensions.

Table of contents

Part 1 Agroecological redesign: why agroecology?

• 1.Definition and history of agroecology: Laurie E. Drinkwater, Cornell University, USA;
• 2.Green revolution agriculture: the treadmill of industrial agriculture: Matthew Houser, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, USA;
• 3.Indigenous knowledge and agroecological food systems: Nancy Turner, University of Victoria, Canada;
• 4.Agriculture and societal expectations for the 21st century: Jennifer Blesh, University of Michigan, USA;

Part 2 Ecological knowledge and its application to agroecosystems

• 5.The biodiversity-ecosystem function conceptual framework: a core hypothesis of agroecology: Rob Brooker, James Hutton Institute, UK;
• 6.The extended phenotype: how do plants shape communities of associated organisms?: Matthew Bakker, University of Manitoba, Canada;
• 7.What is meant by the ecological resilience of agroecosystems?: Meagan Schipanski, Colorado State University, USA;
• 8.Cross-scale effects on arthropod diversity, community composition, and ecosystem services: the intermediate diversity hypothesis: Marcos Ezequiel Nacif, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Argentina;
• 9.The stress gradient hypothesis and positive plant-plant interactions: Li Long, Chinese Agricultural University, China;
• 10.Ecosystem science as a basis for agroecological nutrient management: Gabriel Maltais-Landry, University of Florida, USA;
• 11.Rhizosphere ecology: an agroecological frontier: Bryan D. Emmett, USDA-ARS, USA;

Part 3 Synergies and tradeoffs under agroecological management regimes

• 12.Crop diversity impacts yield and yield stability: Tim Bowles, University of California-Berkeley, USA;
• 13.What is the potential for managed biodiversity to reduce inputs while also maintaining yields?: Anna Norberg, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany;
• 14.The tension between biodiversity restoration and food production: land sparing, land sharing, and rewilding: Ivette Perfecto, University of Michigan, USA;
• 15.What is the potential for expanding the role of plant-microbial symbioses in agroecosystems?: James Bever, University of Kansas, USA;
• 16.Integrated crop-livestock systems: productive potential and ecosystem services: Tommy Fenster, University of California-Davis, USA;
• 17.Perennial grains: From moonshot to farmers' fields: Timothy Crews, The Land Institute, USA;
• 18.The role of agroecological management systems in climate change adaptation and mitigation: Yodit Kebede, Independent Consultant (formerly IRD/CIAT), France;
• 19.Push-pull polyculture systems: using functional diversity to provide essential ecosystem services: Daniel Mutyambai, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Kenya;

Part 4 Agroecosystems as coupled socio-ecological systems

• 20.Analyzing top-down and bottom-up drivers of natural resource management: Bathalifi Nkgothoe, Wits University, South Africa;
• 21.Collective natural resource management: David E. Ervin, Portland State University, USA;
• 22.Participatory action research and co-creation of knowledge: Sieglinde Snapp, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico;
• 23.Can ecological economics promote agroecological management systems?: Joshua Farley, University of Vermont, USA;

Part 5 Agroecology and pathways to sustainable food systems

• 24.Farmers as innovators and agents of change: Daniel Lopez-Garcia, Spanish National Research Council, Spain;
• 25.Agroecology and food sovereignty: Hannah Wittman, University of British Columbia, Canada;
• 26.Open-source technology and knowledge systems to support agroecological production: Ankita Raturi, Purdue University, USA;
• 28.Breeding crops for ecologically-based agriculture: Virginia Moore, Cornell University, USA;