From Agroecological Principles to Scalable Horticultural Systems: Performance, Resilience and Adoption Pathways

Agroecology offers a promising approach to reconciling the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability in agricultural systems. However, its widespread adoption remains limited by a range of factors: context-dependent yield gaps, management complexity, economic uncertainties, risk aversion and insufficient market recognition of agroecological products. Despite growing scientific interest and increasing policy momentum, the transition from agroecological principles to operational, scalable systems remains slow. Understanding how these systems perform under real field conditions, how they interact with biotic and abiotic stresses, and what enables or blocks their uptake by farmers and other stakeholders has therefore become a central research priority. Bridging the gap between principles and practices is essential if agroecology is to deliver on its sustainability promise at scale.This Research Topic calls for scientific and research-and-development contributions analysing the conditions for an operational agroecological transition that can be adopted by stakeholders. The articles should explain the tools, performance and limitations of innovative systems, as well as how to overcome the barriers to their adoption, with a particular focus on robust, transferable and actionable knowledge that makes agroecological transitions viable in practice.More specifically, this Research Topic welcomes studies that analyse the interactions between crops, practices and the environment, particularly in response to biotic and abiotic stresses, in relation to ecosystem services and soil healthApproaches integrating field trials, multi-stakeholder participatory schemes and systemic analyses are encouraged. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following subthemes:• Performance, and limitations and adoption pathways of innovative agroecological cropping systems• Biotic and abiotic stress responses, ecosystem services and soil health• Crop genetic diversity and ecological process optimisation• Resource use efficiency across contrasting soil and climate contexts• Tools and indicators for agroecological system design and assessment• Barriers to adoption: economic, social, market and policy dimensions• Participatory and multi-stakeholder approaches to scaling the transition Topic editors: Sebastien Christian Carpentier, Jean-Michel RISEDE Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83741/from-agroecological-principles-to-scalable-horticultural-systems-performance-resilience-and-adoption-pathways