This paper discusses how to incorporate the changes within an agroecosystem into sustainability assessment. We measured the sustainability of 86 organic coffee producers located in 4 municipalities of Sierra Madre of Chiapas, Mexico. Based on the MESMIS framework, a set of indicators was selected. A sustainability index was constructed using the multi-criteria decision method known as the analytical hierarchy process in a broad participatory process with producers and cooperatives. Likewise, classification of producers was carried out through land use transitions in their lands between 1999 and 2019 using satellite imagery. A variance analysis between classes was performed to identify statistical differences. The results show that producers who expand their coffee plantations into forested areas have more sustainability levels than those producers who convert agricultural activities into coffee plantations and producers with both transitions in coffee expansion-conversion. The indicators of labor efficiency, benefit-to-cost ratio, price, remnant of primary vegetation, recovery of production from natural phenomena, family succession, and producer land area showed statistical differences between classes. These results are relevant because sustainability assessment is an action-oriented method. Therefore, the contribution of this study can help guide recommendations for specific groups of producers.

Se lleva a cabo un análisis de agrupamiento espacial para identificar patrones espaciales y caracterizar los efectos de la letalidad por COVID-19 en México. Se explica en un nivel municipal las similitudes y diferencias en la tasa de letalidad acumulada del 22 de abril al 6 de agosto de 2020 en relación con el perfil demográfico de la población, factores socioeconómicos y ambientales, así como la accesibilidad a establecimientos de salud. Los resultados muestran que, si bien la mayor parte de la población agrupada mantiene una tasa de letalidad promedio en los centros urbanos, los grupos más aislados presentan tasas de letalidad inferiores a la media nacional. Las tasas de letalidad más altas se alcanzan en los municipios rurales e indígenas, donde las personas son más vulnerables.

Over the past two decades, Mexico’s agricultural landscape has been reshaped by policy reforms, trade liberalization, and shifts in crop competitiveness. Yet limited research has examined these transformations through frameworks that capture interregional spatial interactions of agricultural change. This study analyses land-use transitions across six major crop groups: cereals, legumes, fruits, vegetables, forages, and industrial crops using municipal-level data from 2003 to 2023. We apply a spatial shift-share analysis to decompose changes into national, regional, and neighborhood effects, allowing us to identify spatially differentiated trajectories and agricultural performance typologies. This research follows an exploratory approach oriented to uncover spatial patterns and structural dynamics in agricultural land-use transitions, for which no prior spatial decomposition analyses exist in the Mexican context. Results show that agricultural policy instruments have actively shaped land-use outcomes—driving the contraction of cereals and legumes under liberalization-oriented policies, bolstering forage specialization, and supporting the expansion of alternative crops in regions targeted by more recent territorially focused programs. However, these effects are often constrained by ecological fragility and structural inequalities. By integrating a spatial decomposition framework, this study provides new evidence on the structural drivers of agricultural land-use transitions in Mexico, clarifying the extent to which market competitiveness, food-security imperatives, institutional incentives, or international agreements shape them. The findings offer actionable insights for designing spatially differentiated rural development and agricultural policy strategies.