Sustainability and Resilience in Agrifood Systems: Reconnecting Agriculture, Food and the Environment

The sustainability and resilience of agrifood systems are generally considered either through the sustainable development paradigm, which focuses on the interactions between agriculture and the environment and often neglects consumption and food issues, or through the relocalisation paradigm, which prevails in the literature on alternative food systems and social movements. Because of its focus on direct producer-consumer relations, the relocalisation perspective suggests a possible transition pathway, but does not fully address the diversity of interdependencies in agrifood systems (food being largely processed, distributed and provided by intermediaries) and therefore fails to effectively reconnect agriculture and food issues. This article shows the need to consider the possible reconnections between agricultural, food and environmental issues from a perspective that takes this diversity in agrifood systems into account. Such a perspective would go beyond the prevailing paradigm of relocalisation. Based on the analysis of recent scientific and public debates and on case studies carried out in France and Brazil, the article suggests a territorial agrifood systems perspective that takes account of the diverse actors and institutions involved in agriculture and food, and the diverse relations between agriculture, food and the environment that can contribute to the development of alternative and more resilient pathways.