Questions 38 to 41 refer to the following passage.

Passage 3

   Agroecologists do not always agree about what agroecology be in the long-term. Different definitions of the term agroecology can be distinguished largely by the specificity with which one defines the term "ecology" as well as the term's potential political connotations. Definitions of agroecology, therefore, may be first grouped according to the specific contexts within which they situate agriculture. Agroecology is defined as "the study of the relation of agricultural crops and environment." This definition refers to the "ecology" part of "agroecology" narrowly as the natural environment. Following this definition, an agroecologist would study agriculture's various relationships with soil health, water quality, air quality, meso and microfauna, surrounding flora, environmental toxins, and other environmental contexts.

    A more common definition of the word can be taken from Dalgaard et al., who refer to agroecology as the study of the interactions between plants, animals, humans, and the environment within agricultural systems. Consequently, agroecology is inherently multidisciplinary, including  factors from agronomy, ecology, sociology, economics, and related disciplines. In this case, the "-ecology" portion of "agroecology" is defined broadly to include social, cultural, and economic contexts as well.

    In the global south, the term ofter carries overtly political connotations. Such political definitions of the term usually ascribe to it the goals of social and economic justice; special attention, in this case, is ofter paid to the traditional farming knowledge of indigenous populations. North American and European uses of the term sometimes avoid the inclusion of such overtly political goals. In these cases, agroecology is seen more strictly as a scientific discipline with less specific social goals

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Regarding the definition of agroecology,the author assumes that it ____.