Table 1.

Pathways to regenerative food systems, with a focus on strategies identified in key citations

Current regime	Possible stabilizing features	Key citations	Transformative actions
Degenerative – “Eating down food webs”	Strong, established markets Rigid consumer expectations Lax regulation Availability of substitutes Weak environmental feedbacks Disregard for environmental feedbacks	(Pauly et al. 1998; Essington et al. 2006; Stergiou et al. 2009)	Market diversification Catch limits or closures Foster a culture of variability Strengthen social-ecological feedbacks across supply chain Restore depleted species as possible
Impoverished – “The Poverty Trap” or “Marginalization-degradation” feedback	Degraded ecosystems Elite capture of power & capital Weak institutions Conflict	(Carpenter and Brock 2008; Cao et al. 2009; Robbins 2012; Nayak et al. 2014; Loring 2016)	Fund ecological restoration Social reconciliation Invest in local food system infrastructure Return land and reform/restore property rights Incentivize pro-biodiversity actions
Coerced – “The Gilded Trap”	Strong, established markets High market value Availability of cheap subsidies Strong institutions Simplified ecosystems Reduced adaptive capacity	(R. S Steneck et al. 2011; Henry and Johnson 2015; Cox et al. 2019; Angeler et al. 2020)	Divert subsidies for ecological restoration & market re-diversification Empower harvesters for collective action to experiment with alternatives Gear buy-backs Incentivize new entry to emerging alternatives