Agroecology also brings socio-economic benefits, as confirmed in a study

Agroecology systems also give positive results in terms of income, productivity and efficiency.Evidence that supports the ecological transition.

• An Italian-French study examined thousands of scientific publications on agroecology to examine its benefits in socio-economic terms.
• According to the findings, agroecological practices are more often associated with positive outcomes in terms of income, productivity and efficiency.
• For the authors, the study represents evidence for implementing the ecological transition.

THE'agroecology it is good not only for agriculture and the environment, but also has positive effects on a large scale from the point of view social and economic:this was demonstrated for the first time by an Italian-French study conducted by Sant'Anna High School of Pisa and fromIsara (Institut supérieur d'agriculture Rhône-Alpes) published in the magazine Agronomy for sustainable development.  

Diversified agroecology systems lead to positive outcomes in income, productivity and efficiency

THE'agroecology is based on diversified cultivation and livestock systems and on a strong one reduction of external inputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides And antibiotics:scholars have looked further 13 thousand publications, selecting 80 items published between 2000 and 2022 that provide solid scientific evidence on the social and economic results of the implementation of agroecological practices, analyzing differentiated parameters such as income, work and production costs.

According to the findings, overall agroecological practices are most often associated with positive socioeconomic outcomes than negative or neutral ones. “In 51 percent of cases we identified favorable results in terms of income, productivity and efficiency,” he explained Ioanna Mouratiadou, Isara researcher and lead author of the study.“However, open challenges to labor requirements and costs remain, requiring appropriate policies to support agroecological efforts.”

The greatest benefits of agroecology are in the southern hemisphere with agroforestry

The evaluation also highlights that social and economic outcomes depend on factors such asgeographical environment, the time scale of the transition or the agricultural conditions.The most significant results were obtained from studies conducted in South of the world and in systems that use agroecological practices such asagroforestry (the combination of trees, annual crops and livestock), the cropping association (the simultaneous cultivation of two or more crops on the same land) e the absence or reduction of soil cultivation.

Evidence that supports the ecological transition

The study highlights how the results provide a evidence-based support for and as from political decision-making processes new ideas emerge to further support the agroecological transition, urgently needed to achieve sustainable agricultural and food systems, from local to global scales.“The data clearly highlight how necessary and urgent it is to push the accelerator of the agroecological transition", declared Maria Grazia Mammuccini, president of FederBio.“Going back on the policies of the EU Green Deal therefore represents a strategic mistake that continues to favor an outdated and unsustainable agricultural model from all points of view:environmental, social and economic".

The benefits of diversification strategies

Also another recent study, published on Science, examined the effects of agroecological practices on both environmental and social outcomes by harmonizing data from 24 studies in 11 countries.The analysis made it possible to verify how five diversification strategies (the opposite of the simplification implemented for example by monocultures) focused on livestock, crops, soil, non-cultivated plantations and water conservation bring social benefits such as human well-being and food security, and environmental benefits such as biodiversity and ecosystem services.