ABSTRACT
The environmental and socioeconomic crisis of industrialized agriculture worldwide has led to the emergence of agroecology as a theoretical and methodological approach that aims to increase agricultural sustainability from an ecological, social, and economic perspective (Francis et al. 2003). In Spain, organic farming (OF) is the most consistent implementation of this strategy, exceeding all other areas in Europe, with 1.62 million hectares in 2011 (Willer et al. 2013). Although in recent years, OF has undergone an increasing process of conventionalization, limiting its positive effect on agricultural sustainability (Buck et al. 1997; Darnhofer et al. 2010; de Wit and Verhoog 2007), it is also true that numerous markedly agroecological experiences have been developed under this umbrella. Common features of these experiences are productive diversication, appreciation of local resources (organic matter, farmers’ knowledge, old livestock breeds and crop varieties, landscape), strengthening of community organizations, and developing short food supply chains (SFSCs) that enable farmers and consumers to establish direct relationships that benet both (Best 2008; Goldberger 2011; Lobley et al. 2009; Milestad et al. 2010). In this article, we have given the name “agroecological transition” to the conversion process of industrial agroecosystems to level 3 (redesign of the agroecosystem so that it functions on the basis of a new set of ecological processes and relationships) and level 4 (reestablish a more direct connection between those who grow food and those who consume it, with a goal of reestablishing a culture of sustainability that takes into account the interactions between all components of the food system), as dened by Gliessman (2010).
