What is Agroecology?

Agriculture is undergoing a profound and rapid transformation, putting its ability to respond to global challenges at risk. Climate change, ongoing soil degradation, environmental pollution, increasing food insecurity, water scarcity, and widespread poverty necessitate a profound overhaul of the agri-food sector. We are far from reaching the goal of zero hunger. As malnutrition spreads, we are witnessing a historic period marked by violence within the entire food system: within families, against girls and women, against human rights defenders, and against communities being stripped of their land. Conflicts within and between nations are also on the rise.

Globally, 80% of agricultural land (around 1.5 billion hectares) is dedicated to high-input monocultures, which involve crops grown using substances foreign to the soil. Half of this area is planted with cereals. Despite this, hunger is on the rise: in 2019, 690 million people were undernourished—almost 60 million more than in 2014. Obesity is also on the rise: nearly 30% of adults in North America, Europe, and Oceania are obese.

In Europe, agriculture serves both local food production and export markets. Around 10.5 million farms manage 38% (160 million hectares) of the EU's land, with two-thirds of these farms being smaller than 5 hectares.

Family-run farms have proven to be competitive and sustainable when provided with the right conditions. They therefore need tailored policies and investment solutions. Agroecology can help boost their productivity.

Following World War II, with the Green Revolution and the intensification of European agriculture, significant environmental and social issues emerged: biodiversity and habitat loss (genetic, species, and landscape levels), and soil, water, and food contamination due to pesticides, along with water eutrophication. Today, biodiversity loss—of habitats, pollinators, insects, bird populations, and other species—is still happening in many European countries, much of it linked to agriculture.

The deterioration of water quality began in the 1970s due to rising nitrate and pesticide concentrations. Groundwater contamination by nitrates is especially serious. In most EU regions, nitrate levels in surface and groundwater remain high, despite improvements since the 1991 Nitrates Directive. Another major issue in Europe is the heavy use of antibiotics in livestock, which fosters antimicrobial resistance and dangerous consequences for human health.

Industrial agriculture is also responsible for about 12–20% of greenhouse gas emissions. Agribusiness contributes to changing weather patterns, thus jeopardizing future food production. Shifts in temperature and rainfall, along with extreme weather events, are already affecting crop yields and livestock productivity in Europe.

"Family-run farms have shown they can be competitive and sustainable when supported properly. They need tailored policies and investments."

The number of farmers—and therefore farms—is rapidly declining in Europe, due not only to aging generations but also to agribusiness and the industrial food system.

Another critical issue, especially in wealthier nations like those in Europe, concerns food sovereignty and the development of sustainable diets—key matters of global importance.

Given this context, sweeping changes are clearly needed to develop sustainable agricultural and food systems, in Europe and globally. Agroecology offers a promising approach, as it designs, develops, and promotes a transition toward biodiversity and healthy farming and food systems free of external inputs.

"…Agroecology is a crucial approach because it promotes a transition to biodiversity and sustainable farming and food systems without relying on external inputs."

Our challenge now is clear: to convey the importance of agroecology within the food system. Its strength lies in combining ecological and social justice rather than treating them separately. How we treat the land, water, and environment mirrors how we treat others—and vice versa. If we exploit workers, we tend to exploit animals; if we exploit animals, we exploit the land; if we extract from the land, we deprive communities of their wealth.

A Brief History of Agroecology

The term "agroecology" has been around for nearly a century. It was first coined by Russian agronomist Basil Bensin in 1928 to describe the ecological approach to crop research. Since then, it has evolved considerably.

Italian ecologist Girolamo Azzi later defined agrarian ecology as the study of environmental factors—mainly climate and soil—in relation to crop development and yield quality and quantity (Azzi, 1928; 1956).

Although he never used the term "agroecology," agronomist and University of Pisa professor Pietro Cuppari is considered a pioneer of agroecology in Italy. He also highlighted the social aspects of agriculture, such as education, and promoted “mobile chairs”—an initiative (1880–1930) providing small farmers with economic, social, and scientific training and support.

In the 1950s, German ecologist and zoologist Tischler published multiple papers using the term "agroecology," culminating in a 1965 book titled Agroecology, which analyzed agricultural ecosystems and the impact of human agricultural management.

Between 1970 and 1990, agroecology was increasingly viewed as a method to protect natural resources and design sustainable agroecosystems (Altieri, 1989; Gliessman, 1990), with strong social and political dimensions (Sevilla Guzman and Woodgate, 1997), eventually encompassing the entire food system (Francis et al., 2003). Interpretations vary across countries, allowing agroecological models to adapt locally.

Since the early 1980s, Italy has introduced academic programs in agroecology, thanks to scholars like Maurizio Paoletti (University of Padua), Fabio Caporali (University of Tuscia), and Concetta Vazzana (University of Florence). More recently, agroecology education has expanded worldwide. In 2020, Italy launched its first Master's program in Agroecology and Food Sovereignty.

Today, agroecology is seen as a science, a social movement, and a set of practices (Wezel et al., 2009), addressing environmental, economic, social, cultural, and political issues. Its transformative version challenges existing power dynamics and centers food producers and communities rather than profit or market logic (De Molina, 2013; Anderson et al., 2019).

There is still debate over its relationship with other alternative approaches like organic, regenerative, biodynamic, permaculture, and conservation agriculture. This conceptual flexibility can create tensions, but also attracts decision-makers and researchers less comfortable with rigid frameworks.

The term is now institutionalized and widely used by the FAO, IFOAM, and the European Union.

International Principles of Agroecology

Since 2014, the FAO has facilitated global and regional dialogue on agroecology, including nine multi-stakeholder meetings and the 2nd International Agroecology Symposium in Rome (2018). This led to the publication of Ten Elements of Agroecology, which include: diversity, co-creation and sharing of knowledge, synergies, efficiency, recycling, resilience, human and social values, cultural and culinary traditions, circular and solidarity economy, and responsible governance.

In 2019, the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition introduced 13 agroecological principles under three pillars:

• Resource efficiency: recycling, reducing external inputs.
• Resilience: soil and animal health, biodiversity, synergies, economic diversification.
• Equity/social responsibility: knowledge co-creation, values and diets, equity, connectivity, land and resource governance, participation.

This report highlighted agroecology as a key pathway toward sustainable agriculture, alongside sustainable intensification and climate-smart farming. The IAASTD report solidified this recognition.

In Latin America, the Caribbean, and parts of Africa (e.g., Senegal), legal and policy frameworks for agroecology now exist. In Europe, only France has implemented a specific national policy, under Agriculture Minister Stéphane Le Foll (2012–2017).

The EU has incorporated agroecology into its Biodiversity Strategy, Farm to Fork Strategy, and Green Deal.

A sustainable food system transition via agroecology depends not just on agricultural policies but also on policies fostering value-based food chains, dietary changes, natural resource protection, and land access for younger generations. Such synergistic action aligns with the EU Green Deal’s goals.

Research and innovation are also boosting agroecology. The AE4EU project, in partnership with the University of Gastronomic Sciences, is creating a European network of agroecological living labs and mapping innovations at all levels to better connect funding mechanisms and policy development.

Conclusion

The contemporary debate on agroecology focuses on two different perspectives: a “transformative” agenda or a “conformist” one (Levidow et al., 2014).

The flexibility of agroecology, in fact, reveals a risky aspect: it can be evoked as an attempt to reconcile sustainability with intensive agriculture, without excluding any harmful technique or technology, thus bending it to the interests of the dominant agro-industrial regime; or it can be interpreted in its more radical sense as an agent of change aimed at profoundly reforming that same regime, calling for a deeper metamorphosis of agriculture and the food system, which, in my opinion, is inseparable from the principle of food sovereignty.

However, regardless of the interpretation, agroecology—like organic agriculture and other related approaches—is a powerful engine of reflection and a new way of “reconnecting” agriculture, science, environment, and society.

Bibliography

On the 26th of July 2021, at the pre-summit of the UN Food System Summit, there was the “Agroecology for Food System Transformation”. Prime ministers and ministers of agriculture of several countries declared that agroecology is the anchor for the five UNFSS goals.

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