Dear Colleagues,

Agroecological transition is increasingly recognized as an imperative transformation of production and food systems towards better sustainability. From an agronomic point of view, the agroecological transition can manifest itself in the three subsequent stages of increasing input efficiency, input substitution, and system redesign. Whilst mainstream agriculture is highly engaged in innovation focusing on input efficiency and input substitution, system redesign is often overlooked and relegated to a niche. We advocate that organic agriculture can be a privileged pioneering space for research and innovation in systems redesign.

The principles of health, ecology, fairness, and care are the roots from which organic agriculture grows and develops. As such, organic agriculture calls to revitalize agronomy aspects, such as soil and field management, nutrient cycling, plant protection, crop local adaptation, that are otherwise dealt with through external inputs. By promoting biodiversity and giving greater consideration to the interactions in space and time between all living organisms (from micro-organisms to humans) within agro-ecosystems, organic agriculture lays the foundation for more sustainable systems.

In this Special Issue, we will welcome original research and/or reviews that will highlight the contribution of organic agriculture to inform the redesign of cropping systems based on global/holistic and ecological understanding of agroecosystems and fairer relationships in supply chains and food systems. Contributions that adopt a system approach, thus, encompassing multiple aspects of crop production as contextualized in local agroclimatic and socio-economic contexts, and resulting from participatory research methods are especially relevant.

Dr. Ambrogio Costanzo
Dr. Isabelle Goldringer
Dr. Véronique Chable
Guest Editors

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• organic agriculture
• agroecology
• agroecological transition
• cropping systems
• plant breeding
• agroecosystem
• agrobiodiversity
• crop diversification
• participatory research
• resilience