Format/Structure

This panel aims to de-romanticise agroecology by engaging with the practical challenges and politics that underpin aternative farming transitions.

Long Abstract

Within political ecology, promoting agroecology has been regarded as a progressive agenda, in line with goals of environmental justice and social equity. Yet, when looking at concrete examples, several questions remain regarding how agroecology transitions take shape on the ground (Mckay et al. 2025). As input-intensive monocultures are replaced with diverse agro-ecosystems and new socio-ecological relations are forged, this panel asks: how do agroecology transitions reconfigure productive and reproductive labour relations? What novel intersecting lines of power emerge? What role does affect and emotion play in the politics of agroecological worlds?

This panel aims to de-romanticise agroecology by engaging with the practical challenges, material politics and affective relations that underpin alternative farming transitions. In line with feminist thinking that perceives critiques as generative (Gibson-Graham, 2011), our intervention is not aimed at debunking or dismantling agroecology, but rather at creating space to deliberate its messy and ambiguous dynamics. In doing so, we explore how feminist solidarities can address emerging lines of power and engender viable agroecological futures.

We seek contributions from a range of voices (e.g. grassroots organisations, farmers, academics) and geographies grappling with the following themes:

- Concrete examples of the challenges encountered in everyday agroecological practices

- The shifting relations of agrarian production and social reproduction engendered through agroecology transitions

- The gendered and intersectional implications of agroecology (labour, time, knowledges)

- The affective and emotional political ecologies of changing agrarian landscapes

- The role of material ecologies in shaping agroecology practices and politics

- Methodologies to untangle the ambiguities of alternative farming transitions

Gibson-Graham, J.K., 2011. A feminist project of belonging for the Anthropocene. Gender, place and culture.

McKay, B.M., et.al., 2025. Challenging Agroecology—Promise and Pitfalls for Agrarian Studies. Journal of Agrarian Change

This Panel has 6 pending paper proposals.
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