Strong principles developing in French Agricultural Higher Education and Research Institutions
Certain key principles characterise the fundamental approach of agroecology. These are put into action at the French Agricultural Higher Education and Research Institutions
A diversity of adoption
The institutions deal with agroecology on different levels, depending on the subject of study, the level of analysis and the disciplines utilised:
- Projects addressing host-parasite biological interaction;
- Projects addressing agroecological practices such as farming-livestock integration;
- Studying agroecological performance of farming operations and the diversification of production, projects on territorial metabolism, the eco-efficiency of landscapes, or even the integration of procedures.
- Certification of agroecological procedures;
- Projects addressing the diversification of distribution channels;
- Projects addressing the institutionalisation of agroecology, evaluations of public policies, the integration of production and consumption issues into an agroecological perspective, etc.
A wide range of disciplines affected
Depending on the goals and eventually the scale of analysis on which functions and impacts are to be studied, many different scientific disciplines can be involved:
- Ecology, biology and genetics in the study of inter species interactions;
- Agronomy, zootechnics at the level of practices;
- economic and social sciences at the level of uses;
- Geography, information sciences on the level of territories;
- Political sciences on the level of public policy and the food system; etc.
A systematic vision
The agroecology projects are characterised by a strong systematic aspect to the approach they take towards the object of study. The idea of the system is central, the different aspects of the object of study are always in interaction, with each other and with their environment (systems of crops, livestock, agriculture, food, etc.).
Pluralistic Approaches
- Multi-disciplinary approaches to understand the complexity of processes relevant to distinct but related fields.
- Multi-criteria approaches to understand the diversity of performances resulting from varied processes, and to make rational compromises;
- Multi-level approaches, as the processes in play and their impacts will take place on different spatial and temporal scales.
New challenges posed by agroecology in answer to agricultural issues
- New fields of knowledge: integrating disciplines and scales;
- New approaches to innovation: diverse situations, diverse responses;
- New practices for communicating: diversification of knowledge and evolving systems in the face of uncertainty.
