Research Program

The Research Program develops and communicates the evidence base about ecoagriculture to support adoption of effective practices and approaches. Research priorities include: documenting innovations in ecoagriculture; advancing and evaluating market-based strategies to support ecoagriculture; and conducting action research on our field-based projects to foster wider learning. 

EcoAgriculture Partners achieves these goals in three ways:

1. We investigate specific ecoagriculture practices and outcomes to better understand how rural landscapes can be managed to provide many different goods and services at the same time. Much of this work is conducted as “action research”—assisting local stakeholders in managing their resources more effectively while simultaneously generating new scientific knowledge.


2. We pull together existing research and practice at a regional and global scale to assess the effectiveness of ecoagriculture approaches and identify those strategies that work best in different contexts. 


3. We evaluate promising market-based strategies that support ecoagriculture—including eco-standards and payment for ecosystem services—to identify how these can more effectively support whole landscape approaches.

The Research Program is dedicated to applied research that directly assists policymakers, land managers, and others in making informed decisions about agriculture, environment, and rural development. We work closely with research partners around the world, including universities, research centers, local NGOs, and communities. The Research Program delivers its work in several formats that directly reach key audiences, including discussion papers, policy and practice briefs, and on the web, as well as in peer-reviewed journals.