The planet’s reliance on industrial agriculture has resulted in serious environmental and social costs, including high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity loss and widening gaps in food security across the world.Transitioning to agroecological practices is recognised as one solution to reversing the unsustainable trajectory of energy-intensive food systems. The science and practice of agroecology: Pathway to sustainable food systems reviews where we are in terms of the ecological theory underpinning agroecosystem function, the synergies, yield and other tradeoffs involved in practical agroecosystems as well as their social dimensions.