Transforming food systems towards agroecology–a critical analysis of agroforestry and mixed farming policy in 19 European countries

Jessica Buratti-Donham, Rosemary Venn, Ulrich Schmutz, Paola Migliorini

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
45 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Agroforestry (AF) and mixed farming (MF) are two multifunctional land use systems that harbor an untapped potential for future climate mitigation, however, they remain outside of the norm. This review collected and analyzed the policy landscape for AF and MF in 19 European countries. The results show that while the policy landscape in Europe has been growing for AF, with support found within the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy and Green Deal, as well as European state polices, direct MF support is largely missing. No country assessed supports AF in its entirety (traditional, establishment, yearly maintenance) although, there are countries like Portugal, which show robust policies for at least one of these aspects. This paper also assessed the degree to which policies found can be considered agroecological, or contributing to an agroecological transition. Our analysis indicates that while agroecological elements do exist in some of the policies, it is currently primarily on plot, field, and farm level, involving input substitution or the change of one practice for another. We conclude that policies are currently not designed in a cohesive manner, and at times work against one another. We therefore recommend that all future policies center themselves on the High-Level Panel of Expert’s 13 Principles of Agroecology, as well as on transformative and inclusive policy design frameworks.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1023-1051
Number of pages29
JournalAgroecology and Sustainable Food Systems
Volume47
Issue number7
Early online date8 Jun 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Aug 2023

Bibliographical note

This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. Buratti-Donham, J. et al. (2023) ‘Transforming food systems towards agroecology – a critical analysis of agroforestry and mixed farming policy in 19 European countries’, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 47(7), pp. 1023–1051. doi:10.1080/21683565.2023.2215175.
It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Funder

This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 862993

Funding

This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 862993

FundersFunder number
European Horizon 2020862993

    Keywords

    • Agroforestry
    • mixed farming
    • agroecology
    • policy analysis
    • EU CA
    • environmental land management
    • silvopasture
    • silvoarable
    • forest farming
    • ecology
    • eco-schemes
    • ecosystem services

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
    • Development
    • Agronomy and Crop Science

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