Agro-Ecosystems History Laboratory brings together researchers from different universities and academic disciplines. Its main objective is to promote an improved understanding of the function of agro-ecosystems in a historical perspective. This history is discussed as a form of applied knowledge that enables us to describe the ecology of traditional farming systems and thus the possibility to build more sustainable agriculture for the future.
The Laboratory was formalized in 2010 at the University Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla (Spain) and is linked to their departament of Modern History. Some members have been pioneers of Environmental History and Agroecology in Spain. They have participated in the forums or in some of the most important early works such as "Ecologma, campesinado e historia" (Ecology, peasantry and history), La Piqueta, 1993; "Historia y Medio Ambiente" (History and Environment), Eudema, 1993; "Historia y Ecologma" (History and Ecology), Ayer, 1993; "Introduccisn a la agroecologma como desarrollo rural sostenible" (Introduction to Agroecology and Sustainable Rural Development), Mundiprensa, 2000; "Naturaleza transformada" (Modified Nature), Icaria, 2001; "Tras los pasos de la insustentabilidad", (In the Footsteps of Unsustainability), Icaria, 2006; etc.
The members have participated in dozens of research projects that have brought together historians, agronomists, ecologists, economists and anthropologists who have produced hundreds of publications on the History of Mediterranean Agro-ecosystems. They have also been active in the promotion and research of organic farming in southern Spain (Andalusia with nearly more than nine hundred thousand hectares registred in organic production is now the leading region in Europe).
The Laboratory, led by Professor Manuel Gonzalez de Molina, is the first step towards the consolidation of a team and a line of research with a clear and collaborative transdisciplinary practice in finding sustainable solutions to the current environmental crisis. Currently the Laboratory is working on various national and international projects that analyse the flows of nutrient, energy and material of agricultural systems (1750-2000), following the theoretical approach and methodologies of Social Metabolism, the historical erosion of the Mediterranean olive grove; socioecological transitions in southern Spain since the late nineteenth century to the present, changes in the management of Mediterranean crops; or the study of environmental conflict in a historical perspective.