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This document presents the concept of the Main Agroecological Structure of agroecosystems (MAS) from the perspective of environmental thinking (ecosystem-culture relationships) and considered as a dissipative cultural structure. It discusses the possible applications of this concept (resilience, production, diversity) both inside and outside the farms. The potential MAS can be useful in the planning processes of the farms because it allows the quantification of the internal and external corridors, including natural vegetation. At the same time, it can be an important tool in the context of landscape management because it shows a series of cultural relations (economic, social, symbolic and technological) that are normally overlooked by the partial analysis of landscape ecology.

This article proposes a conceptual and methodological framework for analyzing agroecosystem resilience, in which aspects such as agrarian structure and peasant community agency are included as determining factors. The methodology is applied to a comparison of two peasant communities in Latin America (Brazil and Colombia), emphasizing the capacity to transform unsustainable power structures in place of adapting to them. We find that when agrarian structure is more equitable and peasant agency is strongly developed through political formation, organization and women's participation, then there is a greater construction of resilience that improves peasant livelihoods and dignity. This application demonstrates that when agency is strongly developed, as in the case of Brazil, it is possible to transform structural conditions that restrict resilience. The inclusion and consideration of biophysical variables, management practices, agrarian structure and agency, through a participatory approach, allows for the identification of factors that inhibit or potentiate the resilience of agroecosystems.