Science x people: Perspectives from best management practices in agriculture

Best practices that can be used for maximizing ecological benefits in agroecosystems are not successfully employed without stakeholder involvement. The goals of stakeholder groups from different regions and sectors of agriculture define the limits of ecological applications in many cases. This is demonstrated in contrasting examples from commercial feedstock crops serving international markets to diversified organic crops serving regional markets. Trade-offs between the scale of production and ecological benefits are sometimes a game-changer for the agroeconomy, but the cultural values of people invested in agricultural management will ultimately decide which ecological benefits can be realized.