Agroecology: scientific and technological challenges for agriculture in the 21st century in Latin America

Abstract

In the first section of this article, an analysis is presented of the evolution of agroecology as a scientific discipline starting with its establishment in the third decade of the twentieth century and with an emphasis on the contributions of the different disciplines as well as the local knowledge and the most significant theoretical developments since its inception. Agroecology as a science has been emerging incrementally through knowledge obtained from disciplinary contributions although it is distinguished from its parent disciplines through the integration of these disciplines and work that occurs across scales. Such research leads to a broader understanding of the associated problems and their solutions, which are characterized by an integrative approach in which disciplinary information is collected and processed to resolve problems on greater scales. The second part of the article starts by establishing five challenges of agriculture in Latin America that can be significantly improved through contributions from agroecological science. These challenges could be achieved by taking into account agroecology as a science, practice and social movement; where the agroecology as a practice will act as a functional interface to the others. To achieve these challenges, five main topics have emerged including the reductionism or holistic research approach, the scale of the planning and analysis unit, concretizing discussions on sustainability, quality management and producers organization strengthening; each of these topics is discussed.