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Cited by 46Agriculture, Land Use, Rural DevelopmentSustainability and Climate Change GovernanceAgriculture and Rural Development Research

Agroecological transitions: a mathematical perspective on a transdisciplinary problem

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Ong, Theresa Wei Ying, Liao, Wenying·2020·Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
DOI 10.3389/fsufs.2020.00091
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Abstract

In the face of climate change, rising hunger and mass extinctions, scholars stress the need to transition food systems from fossil fuel-dependent conventional farms to agroecological alternatives that can store carbon, improve food security and harbor biodiversity. Theory provides a systematic approach for organizing knowledge on agroecological transitions across the natural and social sciences and summarizing the primary needs of future research. This paper reviews the socio-ecological literature related to agroecological transitions from a mathematical perspective that is derived from complex systems and critical transition theory. We organize the literature according to mathematically tractable concepts, including syndromes of production, agents, barriers and drivers of change that operate across three major frameworks of analysis: socio-ecological, socio-technological and social norms and networks. Our approach embeds the current agroecological transition theory within a critical transition framework that considers the stability of peasant and capital syndromes in response to various inhibitors and drivers of change. We find that the majority of our theoretical knowledge of food system change is derived from the social sciences and limited primarily to examples from the Americas. Our work suggests a need for broader regional representations of change and transdisciplinary work aimed at better understanding how biophysical factors collide with socio-political conditions to hinder or reverse food systems change. Though scale and context are important considerations, we find that theory can generate general mechanisms that link separate case studies. For example, drivers of food system change that shift balances between the costs and benefits of peasant and capitalist modes of production may be particularly important for explaining poverty and gilded traps in agriculture. We discuss this and other lessons learned from taking a theoretical perspective on agroecological transitions.

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  • In the early stages of transitioning to agroecology, there is often a temporary decrease in yields due to the time required for soil health to improve and beneficial ecological interactions to become established.

    “Our findings are consistent with previous research Ong and Liao (2020) which found that in the early stages of transitioning to agroecology, there is often a temporary decrease in yields due to the time required for soil health to improve and beneficial ecological interactions to become established.”

    From Agroecology for sustainable development: evidence on multidimensional performance from a cross-country TAPE assessment in Africa (2025) · cites this paper as Ong and Liao (2020)

    In “Barriers to Agroecological Transitions” (page unavailable), the paper says investments in building soil health may take years to yield benefits and that production needs time to adapt to new management. It does not say that yields often temporarily decrease during early transition or attribute such a decrease to beneficial ecological interactions becoming established. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • This process often prioritizes the attainment of long-term sustainability over short-term productivity gains.

    “This process often prioritizes the attainment of long-term sustainability over short-term productivity gains (Ong and Liao, 2020;Sachet et al., 2021).”

    From Agroecology for sustainable development: evidence on multidimensional performance from a cross-country TAPE assessment in Africa (2025) · cites this paper as Ong and Liao, 2020

    The Peasant section describes low-input farms as protecting ecosystem services and producing first for subsistence rather than external-market income. Barriers to Agroecological Transitions says investments in soil health may take years to yield benefits. These passages support a long-term sustainability focus, but do not establish that agroecological transitions often prioritize it specifically over short-term productivity gains; page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.78)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Significant spending on production inputs may be an unavoidable necessity for farmers transitioning from conventional methods to agroecological alternatives.

    “Though surprising, given that input reduction is a foundational principle of agroecology (HLPE, 2019), this finding aligns with prior research (Ong and Liao, 2020) which suggest that significant spending on production inputs may be an unavoidable necessity for farmers transitioning from conventional methods to agroecological alternatives.”

    From Agroecology for sustainable development: evidence on multidimensional performance from a cross-country TAPE assessment in Africa (2025) · cites this paper as Ong and Liao, 2020

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 10

  1. González and Nigh, 2005; Hall and Mogyorody, 2007; Pearson, 2007;
  2. González and Nigh, 2005; Hall and Mogyorody, 2007; Pearson, 2007; Musshoff and Hirschauer, 2008;
  3. Thorner, K. Y. Smith (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press) 1-28.
  4. ch32 · DOI
  5. Griffin, K. (1974). "The political economy of agrarian change, " in An Essay on the Green Revolution (London; Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan UK).
  6. IAASTD (2009). Agriculture at a Crossroads. eds. B. MacIntyre, H. Herren, J. Wakhungu, and R. Watson Washington, DC: Island Press.
  7. Mandell, B. (2009). Cultivating race: how the science and technology of agriculture preserves race in the global economy symposium: defining race. Alb. L. Rev. 939-952.
  8. wbeog140 · DOI
  9. Morath, S. (2018). Hydroponics: The End of Organic? Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network. Available online at: https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract= 3240185 (accessed May 10, 2020).
  10. Russell, E. (2001). War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring. 1st Edn. Cambridge; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

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Authors
Ong, T. W. Y., & Liao, W.
Affiliations
  • Dartmouth College (US)
  • Princeton University (US)
Corresponding author
Ong, Theresa Wei Ying
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2020-06-24
Volume
4
ISSN
2571-581X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fsufs.2020.00091
OpenAlex
W3036174516
Cited by
46
References
207
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 1
FWCI
7.56
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University
  • Dartmouth College
  • Princeton University
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Sustainability and Climate Change Governance
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Agriculture and Rural Development Research
Keywords
agroecological transition, food system transformation, complex systems, social-ecological systems, socio-technical systems, carbon sequestration, food security, biodiversity, transdisciplinary research

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