The network will go beyond prevailing paradigms on agricultural frontiers and socio-cultural changes in the Amazon. New alterities and emerging identities in the region call for a better understanding of the socio-cultural and intersubjective uniqueness of agricultural frontiers in order to deal with economic, ecological and social dilemmas in search for a more sustainable development. Several bodies of literature point to the need for a renewed emphasis on the social issues that underlie sustainability in agri-food systems: