5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Enhancing agrobiodiversity in European farming systems is critical for the health of ecosystems and
human societies. It is essential to enhance soil health, tackle biodiversity loss, and ensure food
security. While these benefits are well documented, there is less scholarly attention on how
governance and socio-economic factors impact, and are impacted by, the loss of agrobiodiversity.
How can governance instruments and social and economic tools at the grassroots level create
transition pathways for more diverse agricultural systems in Europe? In this session, we aim to
answer this question by mapping 1) European policy instruments and 2) collaborative, bottom-up
tools to identify potential intervention points and possibilities for an agricultural transition. A central
question of our session is whether a more holistic approach that considers and includes all actors
along the value chain is critical to this end. This session invites interested stakeholders and
researchers to consider the presented policy and stakeholder analysis and share their perspectives
on the potential of the identified tools for an agri-food transition.