Can Australia transition to an agroecological future?. Issue 1 (2nd January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Iles, Alastair
• Is Part Of: Agroecology and sustainable food systems. Volume 45:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 41
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02
• Subjects: Agroecology -- Australia -- MLP framework -- lock-ins -- massification; Sustainable agriculture -- Periodicals; Agricultural ecology -- Periodicals; 577.55
• DOI: 10.1080/21683565.2020.1780537
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2168-3565

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Australia faces seemingly impossible barriers to transitioning to agroecology. Nonetheless, many possibilities for a distinctively Australian agroecology exist. Some Australian farmers have helped create methods for rehydrating landscapes, while Indigenous peoples are reclaiming crops and farming methods well-adapted to Australia's diverse regions.To appraise the prospects for agroecological changes in Australia, I modify in two ways the Multi-Level Perspective framework widely used in transitions research. First, I elaborate the notion of lock-ins that impede systemic change.Looking at Australia reveals an array of socio-ecological lock-ins that matter alongside the more familiar political economy lock-ins. These include settler colonialism, climate/environmental change, and scientific & technological priorities. Second, I add 'massification' (or the growth of a movement supporting change toward agroecology) as one possible process for overcoming these lock-ins. I work through several key drivers of the process of taking agroecology to scale to show how agroecological transition might happen.