Paradox of mainstreaming agroecology for regional and rural food security in developing countries

- Integrates literature on adaptation, transitions and adaptive transitions.
- Develops adaptive transition cycle combining adaptive cycle and transition theory.
- Presents case studies of agroecological transitions in developing countries.
- Discusses salient and latent paradoxes of mainstreaming agroecological innovations.
- Recommends principles of adaptive transition for regional and rural food security.

Paradox of mainstreaming agroecology refers to an apparent contradiction between upscaling niche innovations to produce more food in sustainable ways, and the concerns for a loss of core values and principles of agroecology in the mainstreaming process. This paper examines this paradox of mainstreaming and sidestreaming (continuity of niche practises) using longitudinal case studies of agroecological innovations in soil and water conservation, crop improvement, crop intensification, and market differentiation in the regional and rural contexts of developing countries. Findings suggest that there are latent and salient paradoxes of mainstreaming niche innovations, respectively explaining cooperative and competitive interactions with the incumbent regime of industrial food and agriculture. While the former paradox involves continuity of niche practises as well as regime conditions through incremental adaptations, the latter comprises regime shifts through transformational adaptations. However, as these two paradoxes are in flux a latent paradox can become salient when competitive elements of seemingly cooperative niche-regime interactions unravel.