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Alexander Wezel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Challenges and Action Points to Amplify Agroecology in Europe
Sustainability, 2018Co-Authors: Alexander Wezel, Stephane Bellon, Margriet Goris, Janneke Bruil, Georges F. Félix, Alain Peeters, Paolo Bàrberi, Paola MiglioriniAbstract:Agriculture in Europe results in the production of food for both the European population and for the export sector. Significant environmental and social problems have emerged with the intensification of European agriculture. These include the loss of biodiversity, the contamination of soils, water, and food with pesticides, and the eutrophication of water bodies. Industrialized agricultural and food systems are also a major contributing factor in the decline of farm numbers, and the high use of antibiotics has led to serious human health problems. In this respect, Agroecology can provide insights into important pathways and guide the design, development, and promotion of the transition towards sustainable farming and food systems. An analysis of the major challenges for the amplification of Agroecology in Europe was carried out by 310 stakeholders in a World Cafe exercise and 23 sessions and workshops during the Agroecology Europe Forum 2017. The different challenges that were identified can be grouped into seven categories: (1) definition and concepts; (2) education, training, and knowledge sharing; (3) research approach and funding; (4) policies; (5) productivity and practices; (5) food systems and consumer awareness; and (6) co-optation. To address these challenges, the following key actions are recommended: (1) to develop a common understanding of Agroecology; (2) to enhance education in Agroecology and knowledge exchange; (3) to invest in agroecological research; (4) to develop policies enhancing Agroecology; (5) to support new and existing agroecological practices; (6) to transform food systems; and (7) to strengthen communication and alliances. In this paper we present and discuss these recommendations for pathways and actions to develop sustainable agro-food systems in Europe through Agroecology.
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Agroecology in europe research education collective action networks and alternative food systems
Sustainability, 2018Co-Authors: Alexander Wezel, Julia Goette, Elisabeth Lagneaux, Gloria Passuello, Erica Reisman, Christophe Rodier, Gregoire TurpinAbstract:Agroecology is considered with different focus and weight in different parts of the world as a social and political movement, as science, and as practice. Despite its multitude of definitions, Agroecology has begun in Europe to develop in different regional, national and continental networks of researchers, practitioners, advocates and movements. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive overview about these different developments and networks. Therefore, this paper attempts to document and provide a mapping of the development of European Agroecology in its diverse forms. Through a literature review, interviews, active conference participation, and an extensive internet search we have collected information about the current state and development of Agroecology in Europe. Agroecological research and higher education exist more in western and northern Europe, but farm schools and farmer-to-farmer training are also present in other regions. Today a large variety of topics are studied at research institutions. There is an increasing number of bottom-up agroecological initiatives and national or continental networks and movements. Important movements are around food sovereignty, access to land and seeds. Except for France, there are very few concrete policies for Agroecology in Europe. Agroecology is increasingly linked to different fields of agri-food systems. This includes Community Supported Agriculture systems, but also agroecological territories, and some examples of labelling products. To amplify Agroecology in Europe in the coming years, policy development will be crucial and proponents of Agroecology must join forces and work hand-in-hand with the many stakeholders engaged in initiatives to develop more sustainable agriculture and food systems.
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converging and diverging principles and practices of organic agriculture regulations and Agroecology a review
Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 2017Co-Authors: Paola Migliorini, Alexander WezelAbstract:There is ongoing debate among stakeholders about the future development of agricultural and food systems to meet the global challenges of food supply, biological and cultural diversity, climate change, and social justice. Among other options, Agroecology and organic agriculture are discussed. Both have similar goals and use a systems approach; however, they are recognised and received differently by stakeholders. Here we review and compare principles and practices defined and described in EU organic agriculture regulations, International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movement (IFOAM) norms, and Agroecology scientific literature. The main finding are as follows: (1) Regarding principles, EU organic regulations mainly focus on appropriate design and management of biological processes based on ecological systems, restriction of external inputs, and strict limitation of chemical inputs. IFOAM principles are very broad and more complete, and include a holistic and systemic vision of sustainability. Agroecology has a defined set of principles for the ecological management of agri-food systems, which also includes some socio-economic principles. (2) Many proposed cropping practices are similar for EU organic, IFOAM, and Agroecology, e.g. soil tillage, soil fertility and fertilisation, crop and cultivar choice, crop rotation, as well as pest, disease and weed management. In contrast, the origin and quantity of products potentially used for soil fertilisation and pest, disease, and weed management are different. Additionally, some practices are only mentioned for one of the three sources. (3) In animal production, only a few proposed practices are similar for EU organic, IFOAM, and Agroecology. These include integration of cropping and animal systems and breed choice. In contrast, practices for animal management, prevention methods in animal health, animal housing, animal welfare, animal nutrition, and veterinary management are defined or described differently. (4) Related to food systems, organic agriculture focusses on technical aspects, such as food processing, while in Agroecology there is a prominent debate between a transformative and conformative agenda. Both Agroecology and organic agriculture offer promising contributions for the future development of sustainable agricultural production and food systems, especially if their principles and practices converge to a transformative approach and that impedes the conventionalisation of agro-food systems.
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Agroecological roots and routes
2016Co-Authors: Stephane Bellon, Guillaume Ollivier, Alexander WezelAbstract:While acknowledging the intercultural origin of Agroecology, this presentation focusses on the contributions of pioneer European scholars who contributed to the development of Agroecology in the past century. Five of them can be identified as significant contributors: Girolamo Azzi, Basil M. Bensin, Karl H.W. Klages, Juan S. Papadakis, and Wolfgang Tischler. Some of these a uthors refer to crop and agricultural ecology (Azzi, 1928; Papadakis, 1938), with a global vision of soil and climate conditions likely to affect yields or agricultural production as a whole. This enabled drawing worldwide maps of 18 soils, climates and and crops distribution. Attention was paid to the adaptation of crops to their environment, e.g. based on “meteorological equivalent” method described by Azzi for wheat. Papadakis (1931) contested this method, arguing that the biological effects of rainfall or temperature patterns can widely differ. He also suggested a biological classification of environmental factors, where the same “biotypes” exhibit similar development patterns. To study such biotypes, comparative trials were made in a wide range of ecologic al conditions to study the influence of various factors (including cropping methods as an ecological factor) on the relative yields of varieties. Complementary work on experimental stations would enable isolating the influence of specific factors. Bensin (1930) likely made the first use of the term Agroecology, as part of a proposal to the then International Institute of Agriculture in Rome (where G. Azzi was also active in the 20’s, in the commission of agricultural meteorology and ecology). Reflecting on the role of experimental work, he draw an agroecologically based agenda for agriculture, taking into account the economic factors, and the relation between the plant and its environment, including cultivation. He proposed to designate the local variety types as “chorotypes” (from the greek chora= region), and to consider adaptations to environmental changes. He also related Agroecology with other sciences and domains. Likewise, connections with geography and integration of social dimensions were also emphasized by Klages (1928). Later on, the German zoologist Tischler (1965) emphasized the biotic dimension that was missing in previous works, and further elaborated the need to understand interactions within an agroecosystem as well as the impact of agricultural management on environmental components. Interestingly all these authors had a high mobility, working in different countries and speaking various languages, also co-citing some of the other authors. Such an academic universe only forms part of the roots of Agroecology, whose dynamics is more complex and also framed by social, economic and cultural dimensions. A genealogic approach should also be related with the dynamics of other disciplines, of ecologically-based agricultures and societal expectations. Since such expectations and situations differ among countries, this program should also be implemented at regional level. This is among the opened routes for the new association Agroecology Europe.
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Agroecology – Interpretations, Approaches and Their Links to Nature Conservation, Rural Development and Ecotourism
Issues in Agroecology – Present Status and Future Prospectus, 2011Co-Authors: Alexander Wezel, Jeanclaude JauneauAbstract:Different interpretations and definitions of Agroecology are currently used world-wide. They vary from Agroecology as a practice, Agroecology as a movement, and varying approaches to Agroecology as a scientific discipline, which are the plot/field, the agroecosystem, and the food system approach. The evolution of the interpretations and definitions are often closely linked to differences in the historical development of Agroecology in different countries and regions of the world. More and more topics have become related to Agroecology in recent years. In the second part of this review, we analyse and discuss the integration and linking of rural development, nature conservation and ecotourism, both within and to the framework of Agroecology.
Charles Francis - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Agroecology Education and Research: An Academic Platform for Organic Farming
2020Co-Authors: Charles Francis, Tor Arvid Breland, Geir Lieblein, Mike Moulton, Lennart Salomonsson, Ulrika Geber, Vibeke Langer, Nadarajah Sriskandarajah, John R. Porter, Juha HeleniusAbstract:Agroecology education and research programs are gaining prominence in universities. This emerging field provides an appropriate and convenient platform for bringing organic farming into academia. Agroecology deals with complex systems, uncertainty, and the future. Examples from organic farming and local food systems often provide valuable examples of applications of the principles of ecology in designing a sustainable agriculture. The Agroecology MSc program in the NOVA network is a successful example of how organic farming can be brought into university programs, and how interdisciplinary education and research can tap into a regional faculty in agriculture.
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Agroecology in practice
2020Co-Authors: Karin Eksvärd, Charles Francis, Gabriella Lönngren, Margarita Cuadra, Börje Johansson, Stella Namanji, Torbjörn Rydberg, Charles Ssekyewa, Charlott Gissén, Lennart SalomonssonAbstract:This publication not only presents a basic platform that, according to the authors, provides for R&D to contribute to sustainable development. It also gives an overview of Agroecology as well as a peek into the work, ideas and activities of agroecologists ‘walking their talk’ of this broad subject. The reader is quickly facilitated to think about core issues for sustainable development through the presentation of accepted starting points for our knowledge development and possible alternatives. Practical consequences in the area of Agroecology are given and shared in examples and the more personal chapters. The publication can also be used as a piece of literature to build any length of Agroecology education and training on. Use only examples, the whole report, or go further with the help of the in depth suggestions and given literature. Any story needed can easily be added on. The material can be downloaded at www.slu.se/sv/bibliotek/publicera/sok-epsilon/ and is free to share. We hope you enjoy this presentation of Agroecology and that it will inspire and encourage you on the walk of your talk.
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BRIDGING FIELD EXPERIENCE AND ACADEMIA: AN INTERNATIONAL Agroecology DOCTORAL PROGRAMME
2014Co-Authors: Lennart Salomonsson, Charles Francis, Geir Lieblein, Margarita Cuadra, Girmay Tesfay, Charles Ssekyawa, Bryan Mendieta, Tor Arvid BrelandAbstract:Students interested in achieving advanced education in agriculture and food systems using holistic, integrated approaches can find MSc programmes in Agroecology that meet such demand at universities such as UMB in Norway and ISARA in France. Many students now seek opportunities to pursue a PhD degree using a systems approach across disciplines. Interdisciplinary research in Agroecology is embraced by a dispersed group of researchers around the world, and few universities have their own capacity to offer adequate PhD courses and supervision for such interdisciplinary PhD training. To design a new programme, we have established an international network of Agroecology researchers, advisors, and instructors from several universities in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. They were recruited to organize a post-graduate study programme in Agroecology that will provide courses and dissertation opportunities. Using a combination of distance and blended courses, regional workshops, and electronic networking, an international faculty will offer high-level education and research supervision to help talented candidates in national research programmes, universities, aid and non-profit agencies, and private industry achieve a doctoral degree.
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open ended cases in Agroecology farming and food systems in the nordic region and the us midwest
The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 2009Co-Authors: Charles Francis, Tor Arvid Breland, Geir Lieblein, Lennart Salomonsson, Nadarajah Sriskandarajah, James W King, Paul M Porter, Mary H WiedenhoeftAbstract:Abstract Our aim is to describe open-ended case studies for learning real-life problem solving skills, and relate this approach to conventional, closed-ended decision case studies. Teaching methods are open-ended cases in Agroecology, an alternative to traditional strategies that lead students through prepared materials and structured discussions to determine an outcome already known to the instructor. Our method promotes a culture of curiosity. Multiple evaluation criteria show how this learning strategy provides students with practice in researching, envisioning and designing potential scenarios for clients in the field. In Agroecology case studies, students and instructors are co-learners in a discovery process that includes gathering information from key clients, interviewing major stakeholders, and building an understanding of the current context of the local farming and food systems. Two Agroecology courses in Norway, a field course in the US Midwest, and an experimental course in Sweden and Vietnam...
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Education in Agroecology and Integrated Systems
Journal of Crop Improvement, 2004Co-Authors: Charles FrancisAbstract:Summary Courses and curricula in agriculture are traditionally organized within disciplinary boundaries, while study of integrated systems has been confined to aggregation of components and often superficial analysis. Agroecology is emerging as an integrative field that expands our focus to embrace the broad complexities of agricultural production and the entire food system. Education in Agroecology must provide the skills and knowledge needed to design and evaluate new systems, as well as the capacity to vision into the future and anticipate the impacts of systems as well as new challenges that will face humanity. Agricultural universities need to be organized to prepare students to meet these increasingly complex challenges in the food and natural resource arena. Agroecology courses can build awareness and competence in using ecological principles to inform the design of future systems that are productive, economically sound, environmentally sustainable, and socially viable for the indefinite future. A ...
Peter Rosset - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Agroecology and la via campesina ii peasant Agroecology schools and the formation of a sociohistorical and political subject
Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 2019Co-Authors: Peter Rosset, Lia Pinheiro Barbosa, Nils MccuneAbstract:ABSTRACTScaling up of peasant Agroecology and building food sovereignty require major transformations that only a self-aware, critical, collective political subject can achieve. The global peasant ...
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Agroecology as a territory in dispute between institutionality and social movements
The Journal of Peasant Studies, 2018Co-Authors: Omar Felipe Giraldo, Peter RossetAbstract:Agroecology is in fashion, and now constitutes a territory in dispute between social movements and institutionality. This new conjuncture offers a constellation of opportunities that social movements can avail themselves of to promote changes in the food system. Yet there is an enormous risk that Agroecology will be co-opted, institutionalized, colonized and stripped of its political content. In this paper, we analyze this quandary in terms of political ecology: will Agroecology end up as merely offering a few more tools for the toolbox of industrial agriculture, to fine tune an agribusiness system that is being restructured in the midst of a civilizational crisis or, alternatively, will it be strengthened as a politically mobilizing option for building alternatives to development? We interpret the contemporary dispute over Agroecology through the lenses of contested material and immaterial territories, political ecology, and the first and second contradictions of capital.
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bringing Agroecology to scale key drivers and emblematic cases
Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 2018Co-Authors: Mateo Mier Teran Gimenez Y Cacho, Peter Rosset, Omar Felipe Giraldo, Miriam Aldasoro, Helda Morales, Bruce G Ferguson, Ashlesha Khadse, Carmen CamposAbstract:ABSTRACTAgroecology as a transformative movement has gained momentum in many countries worldwide. In several cases, the implementation of agroecological practices has grown beyond isolated, local experiences to be employed by ever-greater numbers of families and communities over ever-larger territories and to engage more people in the processing, distribution, and consumption of agroecologically produced food. To understand the nonlinear, multidimensional processes that have enabled and impelled the bringing to scale of Agroecology, we review and analyze emblematic cases that include the farmer-to-farmer movement in Central America; the national peasant Agroecology movement in Cuba; the organic coffee boom in Chiapas, Mexico; the spread of Zero Budget Natural Farming in Karnataka, India; and the agroecological farmer–consumer marketing network “Rede Ecovida,” in Brazil. On the basis of our analysis, we identify eight key drivers of the process of taking Agroecology to scale: (1) recognition of a crisis th...
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rural social movements and Agroecology context theory and process
Ecology and Society, 2012Co-Authors: Peter Rosset, Maria Elena MartineztorresAbstract:Rural social movements have in recent years adopted Agroecology and diversified farming systems as part of their discourse and practice. Here, we situate this phenomenon in the evolving context of rural spaces that are increasingly disputed between agribusiness, together with other corporate land-grabbers, and peasants and their organizations and movements. We use the theoretical frameworks of disputed material and immaterial territories and of re-peasantization to explain the increased emphasis on Agroecology by movements in this context. We provide examples from the farmer-to-farmer movement to show the advantages that social movements bring to the table in taking Agroecology to scale and discuss the growing Agroecology networking process in the transnational peasant and family farmer movement La Via Campesina.
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the campesino to campesino Agroecology movement of anap in cuba social process methodology in the construction of sustainable peasant agriculture and food sovereignty
The Journal of Peasant Studies, 2011Co-Authors: Peter Rosset, Braulio Machin Sosa, Adilen Maria Roque Jaime, Dana Rocio Avila LozanoAbstract:Agroecology has played a key role in helping Cuba survive the crisis caused by the collapse of the socialist bloc in Europe and the tightening of the US trade embargo. Cuban peasants have been able to boost food production without scarce and expensive imported agricultural chemicals by first substituting more ecological inputs for the no longer available imports, and then by making a transition to more agroecologically integrated and diverse farming systems. This was possible not so much because appropriate alternatives were made available, but rather because of the Campesino-a-Campesino (CAC) social process methodology that the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) used to build a grassroots Agroecology movement. This paper was produced in a ‘self-study’ process spearheaded by ANAP and La Via Campesina, the international agrarian movement of which ANAP is a member. In it we document and analyze the history of the Campesino-to-Campesino Agroecology Movement (MACAC), and the significantly increased ...
Laifolo Dakishoni - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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repairing rifts or reproducing inequalities Agroecology food sovereignty and gender justice in malawi
The Journal of Peasant Studies, 2019Co-Authors: Rachel Bezner Kerr, Esther Lupafya, Catherine Hickey, Laifolo DakishoniAbstract:ABSTRACTThis Malawi study examines whether Agroecology can be effectively used by smallholders to address food sovereignty. We build on the concept of the metabolic rift, arguing that repairing this rift includes social relations. Agroecological methods can be important strategies, but are labour and knowledge intensive, and require addressing power dynamics within and beyond households in order to address food sovereignty. The case study included participatory methods of dialogue, experimentation and horizontal learning to foster change. We argue that feminist concepts of intersectionality and participatory praxis are central to mobilizing Agroecology to build food sovereignty and work to transform social relations.
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farming for change developing a participatory curriculum on Agroecology nutrition climate change and social equity in malawi and tanzania
Agriculture and Human Values, 2019Co-Authors: Rachel Bezner Kerr, Laifolo Dakishoni, Esther Lupafya, Sera L Young, Carrie Young, Marianne Santoso, Mufunanji Magalasi, Martin H Entz, Vicki Morrone, David W WolfeAbstract:How to engage farmers that have limited formal education is at the foundation of environmentally-sound and equitable agricultural development. Yet there are few examples of curricula that support the co-development of knowledge with farmers. While transdisciplinary and participatory techniques are considered key components of Agroecology, how to do so is rarely specified and few materials are available, especially those relevant to smallholder farmers with limited formal education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The few training materials that exist provide appropriate methods, such as compost making, but do not explain relationships and synergies between nutrition, social inequalities, climate change and Agroecology. Some food sovereignty and Agroecology courses aim at popular political education for those with more formal education. Here we describe the process of development of an innovative curriculum, which integrates Agroecology, nutrition, climate change, gender and other dimensions of social equity across 2 weeks of training explicitly for smallholders in southern Africa with limited formal education. The curriculum is highly participatory; we use concepts in popular education, transformative and experiential-based learning, and theatre. It is also integrative; we link Agroecology with climate change, human and soil nutrition, gender, and related components of social equity. Developed in partnership with Malawian farmers, community development experts and academics from five countries, the curriculum was piloted with 520 smallholder farming households in Malawi and Tanzania, and evaluated using qualitative techniques. Clashes of language, cultural norms, and terminology were as great of a challenge as agreeing on and conveying technical information, to weave into a coherent whole. However, farmers who participated in the curriculum training demonstrated high interest, comprehension of material and interest in immediate application to their lives.
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Agroecology and healthy food systems in semi humid tropical africa participatory research with vulnerable farming households in malawi
Acta Tropica, 2017Co-Authors: Hanson Nyantakyifrimpong, Joseph Kangmennaang, Rachel Bezner Kerr, Isaac Luginaah, Laifolo Dakishoni, Esther Lupafya, Lizzie Shumba, Mangani KatunduAbstract:Abstract This paper assesses the relationship between Agroecology, food security, and human health. Specifically, we ask if Agroecology can lead to improved food security and human health among vulnerable smallholder farmers in semi-humid tropical Africa. The empirical evidence comes from a cross-sectional household survey (n = 1000) in two districts in Malawi, a small country in semi-humid, tropical Africa. The survey consisted of 571 Agroecology-adoption and 429 non-Agroecology-adoption households. Ordered logistics regression and average treatment effects models were used to determine the effect of Agroecology adoption on self-reported health. Our results show that Agroecology-adoption households (OR = 1.37, p = 0.05) were more likely to report optimal health status, and the average treatment effect shows that adopters were 12% more likely to be in optimal health. Furthermore, being moderately food insecure (OR = 0.59, p = 0.05) and severely food insecure (OR = 0.89, p = 0.10) were associated with less likelihood of reporting optimal health status. The paper concludes that with the adoption of Agroecology in the semi-humid tropics, it is possible for households to diversify their crops and diets, a condition that has strong implications for improved food security, good nutrition and human health.
A Wezel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Agroecology and herbivore farming systems - principles and practices
2020Co-Authors: A Wezel, A. PeetersAbstract:To achieve the sustainability goals of future agriculture, Agroecology was often mentioned and dis- cussed in the last decade. Surprisingly, the very large majority of publications on Agroecology are related to cropping systems and different issues of plant production, whereas only rare publications are related so far to livestock systems and animal production. In this paper we analyse this relation between Agroecology and herbivore farming systems by defining six groups of principles and seven categories of agroecological prac- tices. The principles we propose for agroecological herbivore farming systems can be classified into (i) knowl- edge, culture and socio-economics, (ii) biodiversity conservation and management, (iii) resource manage- ment, (iv) system management, (v) food and health, and (vi) social relations. The agroecological practices which could or should be implemented to establish sustainable herbivore farming systems can be grouped in to (i) diversification of land use, land cover and productions, (ii) resource management in mixed crop-live- stock systems, (iii) biodiversity conservation, (iv) grassland management, (v) livestock management, (vi) food and food system, (vii) diversification of income sources. These underlying groups of principles and categories of practices should be considered for the development of sustainable agricultural herbivore farming systems.
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Agroecology and the Food System
Agroecology and Strategies for Climate Change, 2011Co-Authors: A Wezel, Christophe DavidAbstract:On a global scale agriculture and food will face key challenges of properly feeding a population of nine billion individuals in 2050, while preserving the ecosystems from which other services are also expected, such as bioenergy production, biodiversity use and conservation, carbon storage and climate regulation. To develop future sustainable agricultural production and food systems, agronomic, ecological, economic and social challenges have to simultaneously be taken into account. The framework of Agroecology applied on the food system could be a useful concept to support this development. Although the scale and dimension of scientific research in Agroecology has been enlarged in the last years towards the food system approach, it is still difficult to outline clear concepts, new models and new methods that specify it. In using two contrasted research case studies, we evaluate benefits and challenges using the framework of Agroecology applied on the food system.
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Agroecology as a science a movement and a practice a review
Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 2009Co-Authors: A WezelAbstract:Agroecology involves various approaches to solve actual challenges of agricultural production. Though Agroecology initially dealt primarily with crop production and protection aspects, in recent decades new dimensions such as environmental, social, economic, ethical and development issues are becoming relevant. Today, the term 'Agroecology' means either a scientific discipline, agricultural practice, or political or social movement. Here we study the different meanings of Agroecology. For that we analyse the historical development of Agroecology. We present examples from USA, Brazil, Germany, and France. We study and discuss the evolution of different meanings Agroecology. The use of the term Agroecology can be traced back to the 1930s. Until the 1960s Agroecology referred only as a purely scientific discipline. Then, different branches of Agroecology developed. Following environmental movements in the 1960s that went against industrial agriculture, Agroecology evolved and fostered agroecological movements in the 1990s. Agroecology as an agricultural practice emerged in the 1980s, and was often intertwined with movements. Further, the scales and dimensions of agroecological investigations changed over the past 80 years from the plot and field scales to the farm and agroecosystem scales. Actually three approaches persist: (1) investigations at plot and field scales, (2) investigations at the agroecosystem and farm scales, and (3) investigations covering the whole food system. These different approaches of agroecological science can be explained by the history of nations. In France, Agroecology was mainly understood as a farming practice and to certain extent as a movement, whereas the corresponding scientific discipline was agronomy. In Germany, Agroecology has a long tradition as a scientific discipline. In the USA and in Brazil all three interpretations of Agroecology occur, albeit with a predominance of Agroecology as a science in the USA and a stronger emphasis on movement and agricultural practice in Brazil. These varied meanings of the term Agroecology cause confusion among scientists and the public, and we recommend that those who publish using this term be explicit in their interpretation. agroecosystem / Brazil / food system / France / Germany / rural development / scientific discipline / sustainable agriculture / USA
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a quantitative and qualitative historical analysis of the scientific discipline of Agroecology
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 2009Co-Authors: A Wezel, V SoldatAbstract:At present, Agroecology can be interpreted as a scientific discipline, as a movement or as a practice. In this paper we analyse the historical evolution of the scientific discipline of Agroecology with a quantitative bibliometric analysis of 711 publications using the term Agroecology and the derived term agroecological, as well as a qualitative analysis of definitions, topics and scales, where we also include further important works on Agroecology. Agroecology emerged in the 1930s and the period up until the 1960s was the initial phase of Agroecology. During the 1970s and 1980s, Agroecology as a science expanded, and in the 1990s became institutionalized and consolidated. Since the 2000s, broader definitions have provided the basis for new dimensions in Agroecology. During the last two decades the range of topics treated within Agroecology grew enormously; also the publication rate has exploded within the last 10 years. The scale and dimension of scientific research in Agroecology has changed over the past 80 years from the plot or field scale to the farm or agroecosystem scale and finally to the food system. Currently, three approaches persist: (1) the plot/field scale; (2) the agroecosystem/farm scale; and (3) the food system approach. In spite of a vague utilization of the term Agroecology through its different meanings and definitions, the new views and dimensions brought to Agroecology as a scientific discipline will probably facilitate efforts to respond to actual important questions on sustainable agriculture, global land use and climate change, or food security, due to increasingly applied systems thinking and interdisciplinary research approaches.