Many sectors of society have urged a transition from modern conventional agriculture to more sustainable alternatives. One of the most frequently mentioned is agroecology, due to its potential to improve soil health, promote agrobiodiversity, food sovereignty, and regenerate ecosystem functions. However, complex systems such as farms demand the transformation of a broad set of characteristics and practices for its transition. These factors are, in turn, conditioned by social, educational, economic, and political factors. Therefore, a clear understanding of the main drivers behind the management of farms is vital for supporting an effective transition. This research applied the main agroecological structure (MAS) methodology, which employs 10 indicators (5 biological, 5 cultural) to evaluate the degree of connectivity of a farm with the landscape, the agrobiodiversity present in living fences and crops, and the practices employed by farmers to support and preserve it. Finally, the MAS methodology gives farms a score from 0 to 100, understood as the degree of development of its agroecological structure, or as the “resilience” of a system in agroecological transition. Measurements were performed in 20 farms with different degrees of agroecological transition, in five locations of the northern‐central Andean region of Ecuador. The farms had a moderately developed structure on average (71.05 over 100), and MAS variation was not correlated to the size of the farm, nor with its degree of connectivity with the surrounding landscape. It was rather significantly related to the geographic location of the study site. One of the main differences between study sites was a more extended prevalence of cooperation and development programs, suggesting a strong connection between the development of agroecological practices and capacity building processes. For this reason, the author proposes that MAS measurements should be complemented with deeper analyses of the capacity‐building background of each site. This study aims to establish a baseline of the MAS in Ecuador, and to provide new tools for monitoring and supporting agroecological transition.

中文翻译：

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从主要农业生态结构的视角看厄瓜多尔安第斯山脉农场的农业生态转型


社会许多部门都敦促从现代传统农业过渡到更可持续的替代方案。其中最常被提及的是生态农业，因为它有可能改善土壤健康、促进农业生物多样性、粮食主权和再生生态系统功能。然而，诸如农场之类的复杂系统需要对其过渡进行一系列广泛的特征和实践的转变。反过来，这些因素又受到社会、教育、经济和政治因素的制约。因此，清楚地了解农场管理背后的主要驱动因素对于支持有效过渡至关重要。本研究应用了主要的农业生态结构 （MAS） 方法，该方法采用 10 个指标（5 个生物指标，5 个文化指标）来评估农场与景观的连通程度、活栅栏和作物中存在的农业生物多样性，以及农民为支持和保护它而采用的做法。最后，MAS 方法给农场打 0 到 100 分，理解为农业生态结构的发展程度，或农业生态转型系统的“弹性”。在厄瓜多尔安第斯山脉中北部地区 5 个地点的 20 个具有不同农业生态转型程度的农场进行了测量。这些农场的平均结构适中（100 中为 71.05），MAS 变化与农场的规模无关，也与它与周围景观的连通程度无关。它与研究地点的地理位置相当显著相关。 研究地点之间的主要区别之一是合作和发展计划的普遍性，这表明农业生态实践的发展与能力建设过程之间存在密切联系。出于这个原因，作者建议 MAS 测量应该辅以对每个站点的能力建设背景的更深入分析。本研究旨在建立厄瓜多尔 MAS 的基线，并为监测和支持生态农业转型提供新工具。