Exploring the concept of agroecological food systems in a city-region context

Abstract

Based on urgent needs for food security compounded by a changing climate which impacts and is impacted by agricultural land-use and food distribution practices, we explore the processes of action in implementing agroecological food systems. We identified the following characteristics for an agroecological food system: 1. Minimizing use of external inputs, 2. Extent of internal resource recycling, 3. Resilience, 4. Multifunctionality, 5. Building on complexity and incorporating greater systems integration, 6. Contextuality, 7. Equity and, 8. Nourishment. We focus on the city-region food systems context, concluding with practical drivers for realizing more agroecological food systems in cityregion contexts. Agroecological food systems are widely diverse, shaped by context, and achieved through multi-actor planning in rural, peri-urban and urban areas. Application of agroecological food systems in rural-urban contexts emphasize the necessity of diversification, zoning rural-urban landscapes, planning for seasonality in a food systems context, and producing at scale. Ruralurban food systems are a relevant and challenging entry point that provides opportunities for learning how food systems can be shaped for significant positive change. Social organization, community building, common learning, and knowledge creation are crucial for agroecological contextualized food systems, as are the supports from appropriate governing and institutional structures.

How Does Agroecology Contribute to the Transitions towards Social-Ecological Sustainability?

“…Some examples of these food policies range from fostering local development based on agroecological production to public purchases of agroecological food for state school or hospital canteens (e.g., the National School Meal Program-PNAE, and the Food Procurement Program-PAA, in Brazil; Contribution 15), fitting agroecology in existing agro-environmental measures (e.g., the EU Common Agricultural Policy, Contribution 16) or city-regions' food systems (e.g., Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, which was launched in October 2015 and signed by 117 mayors from all over the world (http://www.foodpolicymilano.org/urban-food-policy-pact/) [31,32]), or the establishment and support of peasant markets [33]. However, there is still scarce literature analyzing how the concept changes through the "translation" process of agroecology into policy instruments (Contribution 16).…”

Crossing Sociological, Ecological, and Nutritional Perspectives on Agrifood Systems Transitions: Towards a Transdisciplinary Territorial Approach

“…To tackle this necessary reconnection between agriculture, food, environment, and health in agrifood systems' transitions, the territorial scale appears as a potentially appropriate scale, with several recent calls for a stronger integration of social and ecological dimensions at the scale of "city-region food systems" [10] or agro-ecological territories [11] and for more place-based approaches [12]. This article argues that the relevance of a territorial approach relies on two main arguments: (i) it is the scale of direct interactions between ecological and social processes, which may create functionalities for improving agrifood systems' sustainability, and (ii) it allows the identification, and possibly the involvement in the research process, of the agrifood systems' diverse actors.…”

Agroecology in Canada: Towards an Integration of Agroecological Practice, Movement, and Science

“…Recent research has highlighted the viability of agroecology in urban and peri-urban contexts and its potential to advance environmental objectives [72,73] and promote food justice [74,75]. To date, no studies have explicitly researched agroecology in Canadian cities.…”