Sustainable Farming Intensification: Balancing Productivity and Resilience

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, the agricultural and livestock sectors are characterized by the predominance of intensive production systems that depend on capital endowments, animals of high yields, purchased feedstuff and hired skilled labor. The prevalence of such intensive production systems is more evident in the developed world, where large-scale farms of entrepreneurial type have emerged, driven by the growing demand for food, the development of high-yield crop varieties and production animals, the adoption of key technologies, the urbanization, the limited resources and the high fixed costs. However, this intensification of the agricultural and livestock production systems leads to large expenses and increased production cost, social inequity, environmental degradation (soil degradation, water pollution and scarcity, greenhouse gas emissions), animal health and welfare issues (indicatively low fertility, short productive life, mastitis, lameness), loss of biodiversity and reduced resilience. The intensification of the production systems often maximizes short-term productivity at the expense of the long-term health of the ecosystems that support agriculture, creating a system that is inherently less resilient and sustainable. This is precisely why the concept of sustainable intensification seeks to balance productivity with these critical economic, environmental and social dimensions.

The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together contributions from a wide range of disciplines relating to the agricultural and livestock production economics, performance analysis, crop production and animal husbandry, management sciences, operations research and environmental analysis to highlight transdisciplinary advancements and to contribute to the ongoing debate regarding the solutions that will help meet the expected productivity in the agricultural and livestock sector and overcome recurring sustainability and resilience challenges. Contributions sharing results of research projects and real-life industry applications are particularly welcome.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

• Performance and productivity analysis of crop and livestock systems;
• Innovations and best practices for sustainable crop and livestock systems;
• Precision and smart farming technologies;
• Decision support systems to enhance efficiency;
• Optimization of agricultural activities;
• Systems integration and impact assessment;
• Agricultural policies, economics transitions and productivity;
• Efficient management of natural resources/Ecosystem services;
• Agroecological principles for designing productive and resilient farms;
• Novel Agri-food Systems/Sustainable food value chains.

Prof. Dr. Katerina Melfou
Dr. Alexandros Theodoridis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• productivity
• sustainability
• resilience
• best practices
• optimization
• efficient use of resources