Agroecology (AE) has been widely advanced as an alternative scientific paradigm, a socio-environmental movement and a set of farming practices for mitigating the ecological, social and economic harms associated with chemical-intensive, commercial agriculture. In India, AE has been institutionalised through an array of government schemes, non-governmental interventions and farmer-led initiatives to reduce dependence on external chemical inputs, restore soil health, enhance biodiversity, promote regenerative agricultural practices and encourage the consumption of nutritious food. However, such policies are often unclear about the extent to which social justice is embedded within their design and implementation. Consequently, these interventions are unable to engage with entrenched gender and social inequalities that structure Indian agriculture. This article examines the social relations embedded within agroecological practices to understand their transformative potential. Drawing on three decades of participatory action research conducted by the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Kannivadi, Tamil Nadu, and by foregrounding the experiences of resource-poor Dalit women farmers, the study highlights both the promise and limitations of AE. While positive ecological and livelihood outcomes are evident, caste and patriarchal structures continue to constrain equitable and just transformation. Addressing these challenges requires formal and informal institutions to explicitly engage with the structures of power, such as caste, class and gender, through an intersectional feminist praxis.