Luo Shiming completed his undergraduate and graduate study at the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou, where he later served as president for 11 years. He also studied agroecology at the Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, United States. His textbook Agroecology has had great influence in agricultural universities in China since its first publication in 1987, and it is now approaching its fourth edition. His research has included the use of biodiversity in agriculture, energy flow and material circulation in agroecosystems, allelopathy, practical eco-agriculture systems in South China, and computer simulation of rice field systems and artificial wetland systems for wastewater treatment in agriculture. His work has earned several national and provincial awards in China, including China National Outstanding Professor, and an honorary doctoral degree from Pennsylvania State University. He has also been the executive vice president of the World Allelopathy Society, the first president of the Asian Allelopathy Society, president of the Agroecology Committee under the China Ecological Society, vice president of the China Ecology Society, and vice president of the China Agricultural Society.

Stephen R. Gliessman holds graduate degrees in botany, biology, and plant ecology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has more than 40 years of teaching, research, and production experience in the field of agroecology. He was the founding director of the agroecology program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, one of the first formal agroecology programs in the world. He is also the cofounder of the nonprofit Community Agroecology Network, Santa Cruz, California, and currently serves as president of its board of directors. His textbook Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems is in its third edition and has been translated into many languages, and he is the editor of the international journal Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.