Agroecology is an alternative paradigm for agriculture and food systems that is simultaneously:

(a) the application of ecological principles to food and farming systems that emerge from specific socio-ecological and cultural contexts in place-based territories; 

(b) a social and political process that centers the knowledge and agency of Indigenous peoples and peasants in determining agri-food system policy and practice.

This transdisciplinary field of research on agroecology, explored in this article, examines how agroecology contributes to equitable and sustainable food and fiber production, processing, distribution, and consumption. It is analysed how agroecology builds on people’s knowledge, Indigenous management systems, and local institutions through “dialogues of knowledge” with social science, natural science, and the humanities. The study of Indigenous and peasant agri-food systems can be pivotal for the development of both agroecology and anthropology.