Work

Indicators used by EU policies do not sufficiently match those needed to expand agroecology

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Agroecology is key for developing more sustainable food systems. Yet, the ability of public policies to support the expansion of agroecology remains uncertain. This is partly because assessing this ability requires multiple indicators, adequately covering all dimensions of agroecology. Here, we focus on four dimensions of agroecology: biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and farm socio-economic performance. We use the scientific literature on agroecology indicators to identify all relevant themes within each dimension. For each theme, we then compare indicators used for the monitoring of the main agricultural and environmental policies in the European Union (EU) and indicators considered most relevant by agroecology practitioners across 11 European living laboratories. We identified a theme mismatch for 8 of the 28 themes, policy indicators covering 25 themes while practitioner indicators covered 21 themes, with 20 themes being covered by both. Among these 20 themes, 18 were covered through different indicators by policies and practitioners (i.e. indicator mismatch), 15 were covered using similar indicators but with different definitions (i.e. definition mismatch), and 17 were covered using similar indicators but measured at different scales (i.e. scale mismatch). These results show that indicators currently used in EU policies inadequately cover the multiple dimensions of agroecology. We recommend the addition of 16 new policy indicators and the revision of five existing indicators based on available data and methods to enhance the ability of EU policies to support the expansion of agroecology.

Source: Ecological Indicators

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115529

Authors: Cian Blaix, Cecilia Zagaria, Elizabeth A. Finch, Guy Pe’er, Bertrand Dumont, Clelia Sirami