ABSTRACT
In the last 15 years, movements for just and sustainable food systems in the United States have burst into the national stage. Local action on sustainable and organic agriculture, community food security, food justice, food sovereignty, urban agriculture, local food policy, childhood obesity, local foodsheds, and direct farmer to consumer marketing continues to expand across the country (Holt-Giménez and Shattuck 2011; Allen 2004; Mares and Alkon 2011). Most practitioners in US alternative agrifood movements do not use the term “agroecology,” but share and are guided by similar ecological and social principles and a vision for transforming local and global agrifood systems. While “agroecology” in the United States is a term most often used in association with the academic literature, university research, and educational institutions, this approach has also played a role in the evolution of alternative agrifood movements (Buttel 2004; Wezel et al. 2009). The eld of agroecology has evolved from an early focus on integrating ecology into agriculture at the farm scale toward a more integrative study of the ecology of food systems (Francis et al. 2003). This evolution takes the eld beyond a technological approach to one that actively pursues sustainability in agriculture and food systems using a systems-based transdisciplinary, participatory, and actionoriented approach (Gliessman 2010; Mendez et al. 2013).
