Transforming intensive farming systems requires more than improving input efficiency or replacing synthetic inputs with alternative products. Published in Global Food Security in 2026, this scientific paper examines the structural barriers that keep industrial agriculture and food systems locked into unsustainable production and consumption patterns, despite their environmental, health and social costs. Drawing on examples from Europe and other regions, the authors analyse economic, socio-technical, institutional, political-economic and cognitive-cultural factors that constrain change. The multidisciplinary team brings together researchers from Michigan State University, the University of Liège, the Catholic University of Louvain, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and UCLouvain.

Using Stephen Gliessman’s five levels of food system change, the paper argues that incremental improvements in resource-use efficiency and the substitution of agricultural inputs are insufficient to deliver a systemic transition. Instead, three interconnected processes must advance simultaneously: redesigning farming systems around ecological principles; rebuilding connections between producers and consumers; and transforming food system governance towards greater equity, participation and sustainability. The authors highlight how farmer indebtedness, concentrated corporate power, research funding priorities, market structures and policies favouring specialised, input-intensive production can reinforce existing barriers.

The paper proposes a roadmap for transformative change, including rewarding ecosystem services, accounting for the hidden environmental and health costs of food, reforming agricultural subsidies, strengthening participatory governance and supporting research across agroecological transition pathways. A case study of strawberry production in Santa Cruz, California, illustrates how farm redesign, direct consumer relationships, labour protections and institutional support can work together. The authors conclude that coordinated action by farmers, consumers, researchers, businesses and policymakers is essential to advance more resilient, equitable and sustainable food systems.