ABSTRACT
Professor Shen Hengli, from Shenyang Agricultural University and considered one of the pioneers of agroecology in China, recognized early on that many problems in agriculture could be solved using the concept of the ecosystem. Universities continued to push forward the development of agroecology in China. The Ministry of Agriculture launched agroecology training programs for teachers from agricultural universities in both 1981 and 1983 at the South China Agricultural University. A course in agroecology has been delivered since the late 1980s to undergraduate students in almost all agricultural universities in China offering a major in agronomy and for the major of resources and environmental science. A typical definition of agroecology in China states that “agroecology is a discipline for applying the principles and methodologies of ecology and systems theory to agriculture. The term agroecology used for sustainable agricultural practice outside China is quite similar to the term eco-agriculture used in China.
