Title: The governance of agricultural transitions: a mapping towards sustainable food systems

Authors: Amanda Ferreira Guimarães; Marie Dervillé

Addresses: Université de Toulouse, LEREPS, IEP de Toulouse, France ' Université de Toulouse, LEREPS, IEP de Toulouse, France

Abstract: Food system sustainability requires shifting from industrial food chains towards greater diversity, inclusiveness, and environmentally friendly practices. Although localised innovations have emerged worldwide, their scope remains limited. How to scale sustainable practices remains unknown. The literature shows that such transitions require more than public policies to trigger effective changes in practices and social relations. We address this gap through interdisciplinary scientometric data analysis from 2007-2023. By combining bibliometric and semantic analyses with an in-depth reading of the literature, we map the scientific field studying the governance of agricultural transitions. We show that it is a recent research field, with accelerated growth from 2017 onwards. We distinguish two periods and find that agricultural transitions require dedicated public policies and an interplay between adaptive technical and organisational collective initiatives. The governance of agricultural transitions requires a systemic, multi-scalar, and interdisciplinary approach in which territorialised processes are crucial for articulating coherent alternatives.

Keywords: governance; agricultural transitions; sustainability; agriculture; food systems; sustainable food systems; scientometrics; bibliometrics; public policy; adaptive governance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJARGE.2025.151200

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2025 Vol.20 No.1, pp.76 - 103

Received: 07 Aug 2023
Accepted: 11 Sep 2024
Published online: 19 Jan 2026 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article