Converging and diverging principles and practices of organic agriculture regulations and agroecology. A review

Abstract

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.

Agroecology in Europe: Research, Education, Collective Action Networks, and Alternative Food Systems

“…In agroecology, no specific indications exist so far for any 'agroecological' labels. However, first initiatives are on the way in France to discuss and define which agroecological practices and principles are already found or should be included in the production rules of quality labels [43].…”

Exploring the Connections between Agroecological Practices and Ecosystem Services: A Systematic Literature Review

“…However, it was not until the 1970s and 1980s when the concept "agroecology" began to be increasingly mentioned in the scientific literature, from two papers using this term in 1971 to 458 in 2017 (data from Web of Science). Additionally, regardless of the fact that agroecology is not market-driven or unanimously defined within the political and scientific arenas [29], the use of this concept and the inclusion of its principles in public policies and global agencies' publications are currently developing [30][31][32][33][34]. As a recent example, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published a document proposing the ten elements of agroecology in which the common characteristics of agroecological systems are defined, and key considerations in preparing and enabling the environment to accommodate agroecology are given.…”

Development of the Concept of Agroecology in Europe: A Review

“…To address the global challenges of food supply, biological and cultural diversity, climate change and social justice, there has been a continuous discussion between stakeholders about the future development of agricultural and food systems [93]. In this sense, some authors argued that agricultural ecosystems face the challenge of producing more products with fewer inputs simultaneously to satisfy the demand for more food and reduce the global environmental impact of agriculture [94].…”

“…In this aspect, tendencies over food sovereignty are detected to assume a crisis of the nutritional regimen, where a romantic optimism arises on agroecological knowledge promoted by farmers, although it is lacking of modern science [96]. Migliorini and Wezel [93] emphasized that approaches to organic agriculture and agroecology offer promising contributions for the future development of sustainable agricultural production and food systems, because they are based on holistic approaches, that encourage the transformative approach of food systems, include social problems and prevent the risk of conventionalization. In the same context, in a global analysis of the epistemological currents of the concept of sustainability, the technical-biological perspective was considered through its agroecological approach, as the one with the greatest contribution to the design of sustainable agroecosystems.…”