Abstract Agroecology applies ecological and social principles to food and farming and is increasingly framed as a pathway to support human and environmental health. Yet its expansion beyond local settings remains limited. This Perspective synthesizes evidence from agriculture, sustainability science, public health, and policy research to examine why scaling efforts often stall. The analysis suggests that barriers arise less from technical limits and more from the incentives, institutions, and narratives shaping contemporary food systems, which continue to favor input intensive production and narrow performance metrics. We outline pathways through which progress may be supported within current governance and market structures. Strengthening shared knowledge systems and expanding specialized service provision can facilitate the adoption of agroecological practices. Aligning these efforts with biodiversity, climate, food safety, and public health goals could reinforce incentives to scale agroecology. Without such shifts, the contribution of agroecology to long term human and environmental well-being is likely to remain limited.
Arshad et al. (Thu,) studied this question.