Agroecology is a way of redesigning food systems, from the farm to the table, to achieve ecological, economic, and social sustainability. Through transdisciplinary, participatory, and change-oriented research and action, agroecology links together science, practice, and movements focused on social change. But what are the steps that must be taken to transform food systems toward the ultimate goal of sustainability, and away from the mounting evidence of the negative impacts on the environment and society caused by modern industrial agriculture?

Gliessman proposes a framework for classifying “levels” of food system change. The first three levels describe the steps farmers can actually take on their farms for converting from industrial or conventional agroecosystems. Two additional levels go beyond the farm to the broader food system and the societies in which they are embedded. All five levels taken together can serve as a roadmap that outlines in an almost stepwise manner a process for transforming the entire global food system.