Philippe Baret is an agricultural engineer for tropical regions and holds a PhD in quantitative genetics from the University of Louvain. Professor at the University of Louvain, he is currently deeply involved in a reflection on the role of agroecology as an alternative to industrial agriculture. He has directed 17 theses on agricultural systems in Belgium and Africa. His main publications deal with assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems, identifying bottlenecks and obstacles to transition, and prospective studies on agroecological transitions at local, regional and national levels. The work of the Sytra group (which he heads) focuses on production methods, the issue of barriers to transition and forward-looking approaches. In particular, reports have been published on transition trajectories for livestock farming systems in Belgium, with a view to reducing GHG emissions.