Agro-ecological Knowledge Hub

Introduction

Research and innovation are at the forefront to advance knowledge, know-how and technology development for agro-ecological transitions.

In these pages we present the role of research and innovation in advancing agro-ecological farming systems and provide insights into transdisciplinary research combining knowledge and expertise from science, practice and policy to inform the implementation of European policies on sustainable agro-ecological farming whilst solving societal challenges. 

We introduce the tools and results from the H2020 project UNISECO: Understanding and improving the sustainability of Agro-ecological Farming Systems in the European Union, which aimed at analysing socio-economic and policy drivers and barriers for the further development and adoption of agro-ecological approaches in farming systems. 

In this project we carried out case studies engaging local actors in Multi-Actor Platforms in 15 European countries covering a diverse range of farming systems and agro-ecological practices covering incremental and transformational transition stages. 

We showcase the results of the case studies across Europe and of the territorial implications of large-scale implementation of agro-ecological transitions in the context of different food systems scenarios at EU-level.

Learn about the methodologies and tools we used and adapted in UNISECO specifically for the analysis of agro-ecological farming systems and their governance, including the social-ecological systems (SES) framework, a typology for agro-ecological farming systems, social network analysis, multi-criteria analysis, scenario analysis to study holistically the multi-facetted dimensions of farming systems transition towards agroecology, and to visualise the results in our online tool, the Social-ecological System Interaction Tool.

We also present the future research needs that we encountered during the continuous multi-actor discussions across the science-policy-practice interfaces in the UNISECO project.