Farming for the Environment and Healthy Food: Advantages and Limits of Agroecological Systems

Agroecology offers a promising pathway to address the interconnected challenges of food insecurity, environmental degradation, and climate change. Defined as context-specific, ecologically and socially co-designed food and farming systems, agroecology evolves through participatory processes across various spatial and temporal scales, from crop techniques to entire food systems and long-term transformations. These systems aim to enhance ecosystem services, biodiversity, and human well-being. Key environmental benefits include improved soil health, increased agrobiodiversity, and reduced dependence on external inputs. Moreover, agroecological systems have demonstrated positive impacts on nutrition and health by improving access to diverse, nutrient-rich foods. However, transitioning to agroecological systems presents challenges, including potential short-term yield reductions and the need for systemic changes across farming practices and food supply chains.

A deeper understanding of the trade-offs between crop productivity, environmental impacts, and nutritional and/or health outcomes is needed to support the widespread adoption of agroecological principles and practices. This Research Topic aims to synthesize the current state of knowledge on the advantages and limits of agroecological systems in relation to environment, nutrition, and health, drawing from studies adopting novel, holistic, and interdisciplinary approaches. Ultimately, this Research Topic will expand the knowledge on agroecology's potential to foster sustainable, resilient, and equitable food systems that can confront pressing global environmental and health issues.

This Research Topic welcomes a broad range of manuscript types and methodological approaches. We encourage submissions that include:

1) Comparative analyses of agroecological and conventional systems using indicators such as productivity, profitability, ecosystem services, nutritional and dietary quality, and food security;

2) Life Cycle Assessment-based studies examining environmental, nutritional, and health implications of agroecological transitions at various spatial and temporal scales;

3) Methodological advancements showcasing novel tools or frameworks for integrated assessment of agroecological systems;

4) Systemic and interdisciplinary approaches, including territorial and food system-level analyses;

5) Factorial experiments and field trials, provided they are framed within agroecological principles and contribute to understanding system-level dynamics or trade-offs;

6) Reviews and meta-analyses summarizing current evidence on agroecology’s impacts;

7) Short communications, commentaries, and opinion pieces that offer critical insights, emerging perspectives, or reflections on policy, practice, or research gaps.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: agroecological systems, environmental sustainability, nutritional quality, food security

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.