Can agroecology and permaculture support a transition towards sustainable food systems?

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture food systems require an alternative to the current globalised conventional system brought about following the industrial revolution. Permaculture and agroecology are two potential management systems. Whilst agroecology has been previously widely researched, through an ecological, agronomic and more recently political lens, permaculture remains significantly underrepresented within scientific and political literature. This study compared the benefits of both management systems across two comparator sites; a no-dig, organically amended permaculture and agroecology managed site, and a minimally tilled, organically amended agroecology managed site, with comparisons to a conventionally practiced control site. Monthly soil analyses revealed that permaculture management promoted the most abundant and rich microbial community, enhanced soil moisture and organic matter, and lowest soil organic carbon (SOC) stock loss as CO2. Two episodic spikes in nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes occurred in minimally tilled agroecology managed soils in April and July, possibly attributed to stimulating hot moments and rewetting events with increased irrigation and available nitrogen (N) substrate supply. 7% of SOC was lost as CO2 at the conventionally managed control site. However, its contribution to N2O fluxes was limited due to the anomalously dry conditions that prevailed during the year of study, which likely inhibited microbial N2O production following synthetic N fertilisation. Multi-year assessments across varying wet and dry seasonal climates would help to verify the potential of permaculture and agroecology management in reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. However, the imbalance between permaculture and agroecology recognition within scientific literature and policy frameworks, means a transition towards sustainable food systems under permaculture and agroecology requires restructuring social and political paradigms of the food system in combination with the presented alternative management practices within this study.

Date of Award	17 Mar 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Fotis Sgouridis (Supervisor), Michaela Reay (Supervisor) & Christopher J Williamson (Supervisor)