CONTEXT Reducing pesticide use is a challenging issue in the construction of sustainable agrifood systems. It requires innovations of various kinds at different scales. Reaching the objective of reduced pesticide use means that the different stakeholders which compose agrifood systems have to coordinate their actions in order to innovate. Dealing with the transformation process in agrifood systems therefore focuses attention on the context of the interactions between stakeholders. OBJECTIVE This article sheds light on the dynamics and modes of interaction between stakeholders in order to help us to understand how agrifood systems may evolve in the context of agroecological transitions. Agrifood systems connect human and non-human dynamics from which production, processing, distribution and regulation activities emerge. Agrifood systems are therefore networks of stakeholders linked to agroecosystems and embedded in complex ecological, economic and social processes. We argue that the territorial scale is particularly relevant in describing the relational and spatial dynamics in agrifood systems and for understanding the diverse initiatives that emerge from stakeholders. This article therefore aims to provide a deeper understanding of the inter-relationship between the dynamics of stakeholders and the dynamics of ecosystems in agroecological transitions, and more specifically in the perspective of reduced pesticide use. METHODS Surveying the literature, we identified and compared three key frameworks that handle ecological and social issues, and help formalise the capacity for action to promote sustainable systems. The three approaches refer to (i) ecosystem services, (ii) socio-ecological systems and (iii) socio-technical systems. Each approach offers a partial analysis for unravelling specific scales of actions and fails to fully scrutinise the spatiality and temporality of stakeholder interventions. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS From these three approaches, we developed an integrative conceptual framework that relies on systemic, multi-stakeholder and multi-scale reasoning. The suggested approach grasps agrotechnical and socioeconomic concerns, links micro, macro and mesoeconomic levels, and enables a relational and spatial analysis of the dynamics of the ecologisation of agroecosystems to reduce pesticide use. SIGNIFICANCE By identifying stakeholders and their roles in conceiving and implementing innovations, the suggested framework helps to understand the current sociotechnical lock-ins in agrifood systems and how such systems could be unlocked by coupling innovations implemented at different levels of agrifood systems. This means our approach should be useful in reinforcing capacity building and providing the support needed to improve transition processes.