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Agriculture
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Agricultural Citizen Science and Sustainable Regional Development—Second Edition
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Agricultural Citizen Science and Sustainable Regional Development—Second Edition

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Economics, Policies and Rural Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 651

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Florentina-Cristina Merciu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Human and Economic Geography, University of Bucharest, 0010041 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: identity heritage assessment and responsible resource management; representations of territorial identity and development; deindustrialization and adaptive reuse of industrial heritage; territorial dynamics; urban planning; urban regeneration; economic geography; geography of resources; rural development in less-favoured areas
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Camelia Teodorescu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Human and Economic Geography, University of Bucharest, 0010041 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: economics; cultural geography; sustainable rural economy; social economics; economic impacts
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agricultural citizen science covers various activities related to close collaboration between groups and communities, in which scientists, decision makers, and organizations shape the aim, field, and scientific methods used. This provides scientific discoveries and expert stakeholders, as well as volunteers to consolidate results and improve projects focused on identifying viable solutions for sustainable agriculture. The concept of citizen science is less used in the development of sustainable agricultural practices, although it has great potential to motivate rural communities to become involved in projects focused on identifying ways to capitalize on their strengths and overcome challenges. In the current context of climate change, globalization, the COVID-19 crisis, and armed conflicts, which have multiple negative effects on agriculture and food security, it is a real challenge to ensure a balance between improving the efficiency of agricultural production and ensuring a low environmental impact. Positive results can be obtained based on the implementation of participatory projects using the existing infrastructure and tools of extension programmes.

The importance of this topic justifies the continuation of the previous Special Issue. This edition aims to offer new perspectives on the importance on the wider use of citizen science in agriculture, with a particular focus on its impact on sustainable regional development. This Special Issue welcomes submissions on the following topics: the role of citizen science in addressing challenges in agriculture and food research, citizen science and the efficient use of resources in enhancing food safety, citizen science and the impacts of climate change on agriculture, and even emerging opportunities in relation to agricultural citizen science (namely, the role of technology; involving citizen scientists in local decision making, in linking agriculture with other economic sectors, and in sustainable tourism in rural areas; emergency management and rural extension; and Geographic Information Systems as a tool for the sustainable development of rural areas). Original research articles and reviews are accepted.

Dr. Florentina-Cristina Merciu
Dr. Camelia Teodorescu
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

  • sustainable rural development
  • community engagement
  • capacity building
  • innovative strategies
  • agricultural economics
  • agricultural policies
  • agricultural planning
  • food security
  • climate impacts
  • environmental impacts
  • rural extension

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2671 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Temporal Changes in Evapotranspiration and Crop Water Requirements in the Context of Changing Climate: Case Study of the Northern Bucharest–Ilfov Development Region, Romania
by Florentina Iuliana Mincu, Daniel Constantin Diaconu, Dana Maria Oprea Constantin and Daniel Peptenatu
Agriculture 2025, 15(11), 1227; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15111227 - 4 Jun 2025
Viewed by 36
Abstract
Climate change has a complex impact on the agricultural crop system, with knowledge of the processes being necessary to assist decisions that guide the adaptation of society to profound structural changes. This study aims to highlight the main changes generated by the modification [...] Read more.
Climate change has a complex impact on the agricultural crop system, with knowledge of the processes being necessary to assist decisions that guide the adaptation of society to profound structural changes. This study aims to highlight the main changes generated by the modification of climatic parameters (increasing air temperature, humidity and precipitation and decreasing wind speed) on agricultural crops in a region with important changes in its economic profile due to urban extension and land use modification. The analysis methodology is based on the Cropwat software to highlight the temporal variability of crop evapotranspiration, effective rain and water requirements for different crops—strawberry, sunflower and pea—and the possibility of using other types of crops with higher yield and lower water needs. The methodology used highlights this fact, showing that major changes are needed in the choice of crop schemes and future technological processes in the current context of climate change. The current results of the study, conducted over a period of 30 years (1991–2020), showed that the climatic, land use and economic changes in the study area have led to a decrease in evapotranspiration and crop water requirements due to the amounts of precipitation that can provide for the water needs of strawberry, sunflower and pea crops. The irrigation requirements during the analysis period 1991–2020 varied from <10 mm/year to 120 mm/year for strawberry crops, and can exceed 300 mm/year for sunflower and pea crops, having higher values in years with a precipitation deficit (effective rain less than 100 mm). Analyzing the irrigation requirements during the vegetation growing seasons shows that for pea and strawberry the trend is decreasing, but without a significance level. Only for the sunflower crop is an increasing trend recorded in the initial and late stages. The results obtained provide a methodological framework as well as concrete information for decision-makers in the field of agriculture who must build adaptation mechanisms for climate challenges. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agricultural Citizen Science and Sustainable Regional Development—Second Edition)
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22 pages, 5573 KiB  
Article
Research on Spatial–Temporal Differences and Convergence Characteristics of Ecological Total Factor Productivity of Cultivated Land Use in China
by Shanwei Li, Yongchang Wu, Guangxuan Dai and Xueyuan Chen
Agriculture 2025, 15(11), 1172; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15111172 - 29 May 2025
Viewed by 224
Abstract
The scientific evaluation of ecological total factor productivity of cultivated land use (ETFPCLU) is fundamental for advancing sustainable utilization of cultivated land resources and safeguarding national food security and ecological stability. Using the epsilon-based measure and the global Malmquist–Luenberger (EBM–GML) index, this study [...] Read more.
The scientific evaluation of ecological total factor productivity of cultivated land use (ETFPCLU) is fundamental for advancing sustainable utilization of cultivated land resources and safeguarding national food security and ecological stability. Using the epsilon-based measure and the global Malmquist–Luenberger (EBM–GML) index, this study quantifies and decomposes ETFPCLU across China. Spatial–temporal variations and convergence patterns are systematically investigated via an analytical toolkit comprising the spatial mismatch index, Dagum’s Gini coefficient decomposition, and convergence models. The results indicate that Chinese ETFPCLU increased by an average of 2.1% per year from 2001 to 2022, primarily attributed to technical change (TC), with limited contributions from efficiency change (EC). The spatial mismatch between ETFPCLU and TC, as well as EC, is predominantly characterized by low to medium mismatch types, exhibiting a high degree of spatial distribution similarity; inter-regional differences are the main contributors to regional disparities. Furthermore, except for the central region, significant σ-convergence exists in ETFPCLU across the country and in other regions, alongside absolute β-convergence and conditional β-convergence in the four major regions. The analysis concludes that to enhance ETFPCLU, it is essential to strengthen technological innovation, synergistically improve technological efficiency, formulate ecological protection policies tailored to local conditions, and foster collaboration among regions for cultivated land protection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agricultural Citizen Science and Sustainable Regional Development—Second Edition)
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