Offering an overview of 20 years of farming systems research, this book retraces its emergence and development in Europe, summarizes the state of the art, and examines new explorations into farming systems and their interaction with the natural environment.

Farming Systems Research has three core characteristics: it builds on systems thinking, it depends on the close collaboration between social and biophysical sciences, and it relies on participation to build co-learning processes. Farming Systems Research posits that to contribute towards sustainable rural development, both interdisciplinary collaborations and local actor engagement are needed. Together, they allow for changes in understanding and changes in practices. This book gives an overview of the insights generated in 20 years of Farming Systems Research. It retraces the emergence and...

Based on the research of an interdisciplinary team of sociologists, geographers and economists, this book focuses on understanding farming transitions in Europe. The book discusses the importance of understanding transition pathways towards sustainability using case studies from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Assessing the utility of the multi-level perspective in transition theory for addressing contemporary issues, the book identifies future research needs and possible approaches, making this an essential read for researchers...

This book focuses on understanding farm-level transitions in Europe. Using case studies from various countries in the EU it adopts a novel analytical approach based on transition management theory and discusses the importance of understanding transition pathways towards sustainability in European agriculture at a time of economic recession.