Despite the increasingly widespread use of the term agroecology by farmers, scientists, agrarian social movements, and lawmakers, the definition of the concept is still the object of controversies. Current interpretations range widely, from fully transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary definitions integrating ecological, socioeconomic, and political dimensions of agriculture, to more narrow definitions of agroecology as a discipline bridging ecology and agronomy. No less importantly, few actors have developed criteria and methodologies to identify and evaluate agroecological systems based on both ecological and socioeconomic dimensions. The lack of consistency in the study and application of “agroecology,” resulting from varying definitions for agroecology and the absence of standardized methodologies to identify agroecological systems, is problematic. It limits the recognition of associated benefits and disadvantages of different agroecological systems, as well as the identification of drivers that favor the implementation of agroecological practices. While lessons learned from individual case studies are valuable and showcase the potential of agroecology, results are not always relevant to other contexts. Here, we review existing theoretical and empirical agroecological literature. The major points that emerge are the following: (1) we integrate six historical ecological principles with seven socioeconomic principles to propose an overarching framework for recognizing systems oriented towards agroecology; (2) the implementation of different principles may vary greatly across spatial scales or governance contexts; (3) there are numerous barriers that farmers may face in their transition towards an agroecological “ideal”—this highlights the need for improved recognition of systems in transition, as well as the need for supportive policies to scale up agroecology. The application of two complementary methodological approaches presented in our review has the potential to help practitioners evaluate to what extent a system can be considered as agroecological based on ecological and socioeconomic principles.

尽管农民，科学家，农业社会运动和立法者越来越多地使用“农业生态学”一词，但该概念的定义仍然是有争议的对象。当前的解释范围很广，从农业的生态学，社会经济学和政治学方面的完全跨学科和跨学科的定义，到农业生态学作为连接生态学和农学的学科的更狭窄的定义。同样重要的是，很少有行为者已经开发出了基于生态和社会经济方面来识别和评估农业生态系统的标准和方法。由于对农业生态学的定义各不相同，以及缺乏用于识别农业生态学系统的标准化方法，导致“农业生态学”的研究和应用缺乏一致性，有问题。它限制了对不同农业生态系统相关利益的认识，也限制了对有利于实施农业生态实践的驱动因素的识别。虽然从个案研究中汲取的教训是有价值的，并展示了农业生态学的潜力，但结果并不总是与其他情况相关。在这里，我们回顾现有的理论和实证农业生态学文献。提出的主要观点如下：（1）我们将六种历史生态学原理与七种社会经济学原理相结合，提出了一个总体框架，以识别面向农业生态学的系统；（2）在空间尺度或治理环境下，不同原则的实施可能会有很大差异；（3）农民在向农业生态“理想”过渡过程中可能会遇到许多障碍，这凸显了对转型系统的认识得到改善，以及扩大农业生态规模的支持性政策的必要性。在我们的综述中，两种互补方法学方法的应用有可能帮助从业人员根据生态学和社会经济学原理评估该系统在多大程度上可以被认为是农业生态学。