The Brussels Development Briefing n. 59 on “Agroecology for Sustainable Food Systems” organised by CTA, the European Commission/EuropeAid, the ACP Secretariat, CONCORD and IPES-FOOD was held on Wednesday 15 January 2020 (9h00-13h00) at the ACP Secretariat, Avenue Georges Henri 451, 1200 Brussels. The briefing brought various perspectives and experiences on agroecological systems to support agricultural transformation. Experts presented trends and prospects for agroecological approaches and what it implies for the future of the food systems. Successes and innovative models in agroecology in different parts of the world and the lessons learned for upscaling them were also discussed.

1. Alexander Wezel
ISARA, Lyon, France Agroecology Europe
Brussels Policy Briefing n. 59
15 Jan 2019, Brussels
Agroecology in the European agenda of
sustainable development: Best practices
Paola Migliorini
University of Gastronomic Science
President of Agroecology Europe
Vice-president IFOAM Agribiomediterraneo
p.migliorini@unisg.it

2. Who we are?

3. Who we are
Agroecology Europe, a European association to promote
agroecology, was created in January 2016 in Belgium with the
participation of 19 founders from 10 countries.
Agroecology Europe intends to place agroecology high on the
European agenda of sustainable development of farming and food
systems. It wants to foster interactions between actors in sciences,
practices and social movements, by facilitating knowledge sharing
and action.
It aims at the creation of an inclusive European community of
professionals, practitioners, and more generally societal stakeholders
in agroecology.
Agroecology Europe is open to all individuals, groups and
institutions and aims to define its agenda through their participatory
engagement.

4. 1st New Board meeting 25-26 January 2018
Bra-Pollenzo (CN), Italy at University of Gastronomic
Science

5. 23-25th March 2018 Symposium of
Agroecology
Rome, Italy at FAO

6. EPI Agri Innovation Summit: 500
persons!

7. AEEU Youth Network
We are a group of young people from different
countries, with a common strong interest in
agroecology and a vibrant energy.
The group is characterized by members with very
heterogeneous backgrounds
The network includes anyone who are interested in
agroecology generally from the food production,
distribution, social movement, education or political
point of view.

8. Policy Workshop
“European policy to support the transition towards sustainable
food system through agroecology”
13 June 2019 in Brussels with AEEU Board members + Officials from DG AGRI, DG ENVI,
JRC (Ispra) and Stakeholders from sister associations
In the context of the Reform of the CAP, AEEU invited the
participants to propose a way for future food and agricultural
systems in Europe and to propose a vision on policy instruments
for stimulating the transition towards agroecological systems.

9. Current status of the network
123 people from 35
countries all over the world
AEEU Youth Network

10. Vision of the AEEU Youth Network
Inspire and empower young people, stimulate bottom-up
approaches
Inspire and
empower
Create a network of young people from different backgrounds
and skills setNetwork
Connect young agroecologists to external partners and potential
future employersConnect
Facilitate the dissemination of knowledge and practices on
Agroecology to a larger scaleFacilitate

11. What is agroecology?

12. 0
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Numberofpublications
Total n=696
97
2008
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Number of publications using the word “agroecology” or
“agroecological” in the title or in the author keywords
1965, first book
“Agroecology”
1990 2000198019501928
History of Agroecology
(Wezel and Soldat 2009, International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability)

13. Our understanding of AE
Agroecology is considered jointly as a science, a practice and a
social movement.
It encompasses the whole food system from the soil to the organization
of human societies. It fosters interactions between actors in science,
practice and movements, by facilitating knowledge sharing and action
As a science, it gives priority to action research, holistic and
participatory approaches, and transdisciplinarity that is inclusive of
different knowledge systems.
As a practice, it is based on sustainable use of local renewable
resources, local farmers’ knowledge and priorities, wise use of
biodiversity to provide ecosystem services and resilience, and solutions
that provide multiple benefits (environmental, economic, social) from
local to global.
As a movement, it defends smallholders and family farming, farmers
and rural communities, food sovereignty, local and short food supply
chains, diversity of local seeds and breeds, healthy and quality food.
Agroecology Europe (2017)

14. Principles of agroecology

15. The principles of agroecology
Sustainable
agricultural
production and
food systems
1. Recycling
6. Synergy5. Biodiversity
4. Animal
health
3. Soil
health
2. Input
reduction
7. Economic
diversification
12. Land and natural
resource governance
11. Connectivity
10. Fairness
9. Social values
and diets
8. Co-creation of
knowledge
13.
Participation
(HLPE 2019)slide by courtesy of A. Wezel

16. Agroecology
Scientific Discipline Movement
Plot/Field
approach
Agroecosystem
ecology
Environ-
mentalism
Rural
development
Approach/Practice
Techniques
Ecology of
food system
Social/Political movement
for sustainable agriculture
& Food sovereignty
Education –
Action learning
and research
(Modified from Wezel et al. 2009, Agronomy for Sustainable Development: Agroecological practices
for Sustainable Agriculture: Principles, Applications, and Making the Transition)
Main elements of agroecology
System thinking
approach -
transdisciplinary
Principles

17. Movements

18. • Movement of peasants, indigenous
people and agricultural workers,
farmers groups,
e.g. Via Campesina
• Co-creation of knowledge
• Campesino-to-Campesino
exchange
Demand on food sovereignty and
autonomy for the local populations

19. Agroecological practices
 Practices that relate to nature based solutions
mentioned among needed innovations in agriculture
(EU CAP communication 2017)

20. All this
The goal:
Sustainable farming
and food systems
Adapted from A. Wezel

21. Management of landscape
elements
Integration of semi-natural landscape
elements at field, farm, and
landscape scales
Tillage
management
Direct seeding into
living cover crops
or mulch, non
invertion/reduced
tillage
Crop choice, spatial
distribution, and temporal
succession
Agroforestry, Integration with
livestock,
Intercropping and relay
intercropping,
Diversified rotations,
Cultivar choice & mixture
Crop
fertilisation
Manure and
compost, organic
fertilisation,
Biofertilizer
Scale of application of
agroecological practice
Field
scale
Cropping
system
scale
Landscape
scale
Weed, pest, and
disease
management
Natural enemies,
Biological pest
control, organic
pesticides
Allelopathic plants
Crop
irrigation
Drip irrigation
Agroecological cropping practices
(modified from Wezel et al. 2014, Agronomy for Sustainable Development)

22. Scientific discipline

23. Current issues and debates
in the sector

24. Major current agroecology research topics and keywords
(Wezel et al. 2018, Sustainability)

25. Major current agroecology research topics and keywords
(Wezel et al. 2018, Sustainability)

26. • Systems approach research in farming and food systems
(environmental, social, political, economic aspects)
• Sharing best farmers’ practices (co-creation of knowledge,
horizontal knowledge exchange)
• Upscaling agroecological practices and their implementation
• Alternatives to pesticides (e.i. glifosate)
• Economic performance with agroecology
• Climate change adaptation with agroecological practices and
farm resilience
• Alternative food systems and value-based supply chains
• Action learning in education and training
Potential research priorities
 Alignment of funding would be very important

27. Effects of adopting agroecological practices on socio-economic
indicators
(D’Annolfo et al. 2017)
Economic performance of agroecology

28. (van der Ploeg et al. 2019)
Economic performance of agroecology

29. (van der Ploeg et al. 2019)
Economic performance of agroecology
Theoretical framework
Agroecology: favors the creation of wealth and the generation of
comparable incomes, if not more than those obtained from
conventional agriculture
This potential is combination of :
(1) the higher ratio between Value Added and the Gross Value of
Production (VA/GVP) realized in agroecological production
(2) low, volatile and decreasing off-farm prices and steadily
increasing costs (a situation often summarized as ‘the squeeze on
agriculture’).

30. Decreasing
costs
Increasing
revenue
Costs Revenue
Benefits
Economic strategy of Agroecology
Peeters 2017
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss,
you'll land among the stars! Oscar Wilde
Conventional Agroecological

31. (van der Ploeg et al. 2019)
Economic performance of agroecology
Value Added (VA) = wealth creation for the nation
VA = GVP – tot Cost (CI – D) (1)
GVP (Gross Value of Production) = value of annual production (sold, saved, self-
contained)
CI = Intermediary & Variable costs (goods and services < year)
D = depreciation (equipment and materials > year)
Agricultural Income (AI) = what's left in the farmer's pocket
AI = VA -/+ Social Redistributions = (2)
VA - Bank interest - Rent paid for the land - Workers' wages - Taxes + State subsidies
Conv. Ag. = few or no employees, weak interests (low investments, small size), little
or no subsidy in certain productions (grapes, vegetables, etc.)
dependence on CI and D and debt (investments in machinery)

32. (van der Ploeg et al. 2019)
Economic performance of agroecology
Work productivity: VA/LU = VA/GVP ∗ GVP/LU (3)
VA = GVP - Ct
Ct = total Cost (variable costs + depreciation)
GVP = Gross Value of Production
LU = Labour Unit
There is an inverse relationship between VA/GVP and GVP/LU
To increase GVP/LU Enlarging the total production per unit of labour force
investments in new technologies, higher input (economies of scale, standardization
processes and products) variable costs per object of labour will rise and VA/object
of labour will go down.
Conventional Ag: new varieties and breeds, powerful machinery, chemical inputs,
upstream chain dependence, subsidies dependence
To increase VA/GVP search of an optimal equilibrium of basic resources (labour,
buildings, machinery, cropland and pasture and livestock).

33. (van der Ploeg et al. 2019)
Economic performance of agroecology
The interrelations between VA/GVP and GVP/LU

34. (van der Ploeg et al. 2019)
Economic performance of agroecology
To increase VA / GVP in Agroecology
1. Increase % of internal inputs
locally available resources (fodder, seeds, animals) and optimises their contribution to
maintaining ecosystem services
2. Diversify (mixed farming)
Economies of scope and relations (and not of scale), low CI, intercropping, agroforestry,
mixed grazing = functional synergies for positive interactions
3. Focus and increase use-efficiency of internal resources and improve their quality
• Seeds, fodder, cooperative machinery (lower costs, diversity), etc.
• Fossil energy reduction, work and skills exchanges, knowledge generation
4. Focus on labour in farming
to substitute external for internal resources (1), to run a ‘multi-product farm’ (2) and
search for and realize synergies (3), requires a very particular type of know-how and way
of working
Remunerate work and not the bank!
5. New alliances between farmers and consumers
Resource exchanges (less dependence on markets), new sales markets, lower volatility
of sales prices, better sales prices

35. Transition to sustainable
food systems with
agroecology

36. Level 5: Build a new global food
system, based on participation,
localness, fairness, and justice
Level 4: Reconnecting the two
most important parts of the food
system - consumers and producers,
through the development of
alternative food networks
Level 3: Redesign the
agroecosystem so that it functions
on the basis of a new set of
ecological processes that provide
system resistance
Level 2: Substitution of
conventional inputs and practices
with alternatives
Level 1: Increase input use
efficiency, reducing the use of
costly, scarce, or environmentally
damaging inputs
TransformationalIncremental
FoodsystemAgroecosystem
(Gliessman 2007)
Food system transformation level and transition pathways
Agroecological practices
Agroecological practices
Conversion to organic agriculture,
AE practices (no till, diversified
rotations, agroforestry, biological pest
control, intercropping)
Short supply chains, value-based supply
chains, alternative food systems,
small/medium scale farmers access to
local/regional markets systems with fresh
products
Fair trade agreements and markets,
non-power concentrations in agri-food
sector, circular economy
slide by courtesy of A. Wezel

37. THANK YOU!
http://www.agroecology-europe.org/