This service addresses three essential socio-economic aspects in the sustainability of agricultural systems and the transition to more agroecological practices: the study of socio-economic impacts through Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) in the farm context, the study of the distribution of added value in the value chain analysis, as well as embracing rural resilience in the form of rural proofing. All of these issues are scrutinized in spatial context with special attention to rural-urban relations and interregional economies.

This socio-economic LCA approach studies the relationship between the social performance of stakeholders in order to pinpoint the effects of a change in the activities of a value chain on the wellbeing of individuals and of the society and localities in which they live. Socio-economic impacts are assessed by defining the impacts that transformation towards sustainable agroecosystems sets for rural communities. The socio-economic LCA will be complemented by rural proofing in order to shed light on the overall impacts on sustainable rural transition – including environmental, social and economic impacts as well as the eventual policy implications.

Value chain analysis studies the dynamic process of activities that go into changing the inputs for a product or service into an output that is valued by the customer. Recent literature in Global Value Chain (GVC) analysis calls for incorporating a spatial dimension in value chain analysis. Addressing this issue, we explore the value chains within the agroecological transition in a context of rural-urban synergies and possibility to balance the regional economies within a country.