The Science and Practice of Agroecology: Pathway to Sustainable Food Systems

The planet’s reliance on industrial agriculture has resulted in serious environmental and social costs, including high greenhouse gas 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 explores key developments and issues in positioning agroecology as a new paradigm for agriculture. The book comprehensively discusses what is wrong with existing productivist models of agriculture and what a sustainable alternative might look like, including the importance of indigenous knowledge in that process.

The book explores how insights from ecological science have transformed our understanding of how to create more resilient, synergistic agro-ecosystems that work effectively with, rather than against, ecological processes. The book also reviews potential synergies and trade-offs in making agroecological transitions, such as the need to maintain yields alongside the delivery of other key ecosystem services and goals. Finally, the book focuses on the social dimensions of agroecology and how to empower communities to develop local solutions which collectively hold the promise of creating the transformation of global agriculture needed for a truly sustainable future.

Dr Laurie Drinkwater is a Professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University, USA. Professor Drinkwater is internationally renowned for her research on soil nutrient cycling processes in agroecosystems. In 2018 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Organic Agriculture from the Agronomy Society of America. Professor Drinkwater is co-Editor of the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.

Dr Matthew Houser is a Senior Social Scientist at The Nature Conservancy’s Chesapeake Bay Program and an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Matt’s applied research examines the cross-scale factors shaping row-crop farmers’ fertilizer management decisions and how to better enable voluntary behavior change. He has published more than 30 peer reviewed articles and received over $14 million in project funding across his career.

Rob is Head of Ecological Sciences at The James Hutton Institute. He is a plant ecologist with over 25 years’ experience of ecological research. He has extensive experience of ecology in a wide range of environments, including arctic, montane, alpine, semi-arid and arable ecosystems, and currently undertakes research at sites across Scotland.

Dr Long Li is a professor in Agroecology at China Agricultural University currently. He has endeavoured to explore the ecological principle of agricultural intercropping, at the same time, and to focus at using the principle to develop intensively ecological agriculture.

Dr Maltais-Landry's work at UF embraces the complexity and uniqueness of Florida’s diverse agroecosystems, focusing on nutrient cycling and soil fertility, soil health and regenerative and organic agriculture.