Agroecological Pathways Toward Resilient and Sustainable Organic Farming Systems
A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Production".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: organic farming; farming systems; agricultural resilience; management practices; farm economics; biodiversity; ecosystem services
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Organic farming is facing challenges such as yield stability, the economic viability of farms, and market instability. Researchers in this field have been searching for solutions that will help organic farming yields reach those of conventional farming systems, while simultaneously keeping its low environmental footprint and preserving the delivery of ecosystem services. Challenges such as the negative impact of climate change, nutrient management, and weed and pest pressures, as well as market instability and labour demands test, the resilience of organic farms. Agroecology, with multiple diversified management practices available for implementation into daily routines in organic farming, can provide a robust framework for addressing these issues. The integration of ecological principles, diversification, innovative agronomic practices, and technological advancements are the pathways to make organic farming a system resilient to external stressors, with biodiversity as a main source of ecosystem services, and adaptive management as core for its resilience.
This Special Issue focuses on agroecological management strategies that enhance system resilience and sustainability in organic farming. We are particularly interested in agronomic approaches that diversify crop production systems (e.g., intercropping, long rotations, agroforestry, polycultures) as well as the diversification of agricultural practices that integrate automation and robotic technologies, thus supporting precision weed management, nutrient application, and labour efficiency in organic systems. To build a truly resilient organic farming system, ecological diversification must be supported by innovative soil and crop monitoring and new production technologies.
We invite contributions on topics including, but not limited to, the following:
- Crop and system diversification as resilience strategies;
- Ecological pest and disease regulation;
- Soil fertility and microbiome-based innovations;
- Modellingand measuring of system resilience;
- Socioecological and participatory approaches;
- Integration of digital tools, robotics, and automation into organic practices.
Scientific explorations of synergies between organic traditional knowledge, agroecological diversification, climate change, and emerging technological innovations are especially welcome.
Dr. Adam Berbeć
Dr. Marta Wyzińska
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- organic farming
- agricultural practices
- agricultural resilience
- sustainability
- agroecology
- diversification
- farm robotics
- yield gap
- climate change
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