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Agriculture
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Farm Carbon Footprint Measurement for Sustainable Agrifood Systems
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Farm Carbon Footprint Measurement for Sustainable Agrifood Systems

A Special Issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472) belonging to the section "Agricultural Systems and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 November 2026 | Viewed by 2333

Editors

Dr. Simona Roxana Pǎtǎrlǎgeanu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agrifood and Environmental Economics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: econometrics; sustainable agriculture; policy evaluation; consumer preference; market analysis; environmental economics; food security; quantitative methods
Dr. Mihai Dinu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agrifood and Environmental Economics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: econometrics; agri-food markets; causal interference; policy evaluation; market analysis; environmental economics; food security; quantitative methods

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Carbon footprint measurement in agriculture has evolved significantly since the early 2000s, driven by international climate commitments and the agricultural sector’s substantial contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions (10-12% of anthropogenic emissions). Standardized methodologies—including Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), IPCC guidelines, and ISO 14064 standards—have progressively refined farm-level emission quantification. Recent decades have witnessed enhanced computational capacity, improved emission factor databases, and growing demand for carbon-neutral food production, necessitating robust measurement frameworks.

This Special Issue addresses methodological advances and practical applications in quantifying carbon footprints across diverse agricultural systems. We seek research encompassing measurement protocols, emission factor development, spatial and temporal variability in farm emissions, carbon sequestration, and verification mechanisms. The scope includes crop and livestock production systems, organic versus conventional farming comparisons, and integrated approaches linking carbon accounting with farm management decisions and policy frameworks.

We prioritize research employing innovative measurement techniques—remote sensing, process-based modeling, machine learning algorithms for emission prediction, and blockchain-enabled traceability systems. Studies integrating uncertainty analysis, addressing data gaps in developing regions, and validating emerging technologies against conventional measurement approaches are particularly valued.

We invite original empirical research, methodological innovations, comprehensive reviews, and case studies demonstrating rigorous measurement protocols, cross-system comparisons, and policy-relevant applications. Submissions should provide actionable insights for reducing agricultural emissions while maintaining productivity and economic viability.

Dr. Simona Roxana Pǎtǎrlǎgeanu
Dr. Mihai Dinu
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized 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

  • carbon footprint
  • greenhouse gas emissions
  • life cycle assessments
  • agricultural systems
  • emission quantification
  • carbon sequestration
  • climate change mitigation
  • farm-level measurement
  • sustainability assessment
  • agrofood systems

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 2690 KB  
Article
Carbon-Equivalent Emissions from Agricultural and Livestock Production in Inner Mongolia: Dynamics, Associated Factors, and Future Trajectories
by Ru Yu, Fanhao Meng, Min Luo, Wenhui Kuang, Tiantian Liao, Chula Sa, Yi Zhu, Wenfeng Chi, An Chang, Yuhai Bao and Tie Liu
Agriculture 2026, 16(16), 1721; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16161721 - 12 Aug 2026
Viewed by 358
Abstract
Agricultural and livestock production plays an important role in Inner Mongolia, China, but its continued development poses challenges for greenhouse gas mitigation. Using multi-source data from 2005 to 2023, this study integrates the IPCC emission-factor approach, panel STIRPAT modeling, uncertainty and sensitivity analyses, [...] Read more.
Agricultural and livestock production plays an important role in Inner Mongolia, China, but its continued development poses challenges for greenhouse gas mitigation. Using multi-source data from 2005 to 2023, this study integrates the IPCC emission-factor approach, panel STIRPAT modeling, uncertainty and sensitivity analyses, and Ridge regression forecasting to quantify carbon-equivalent emissions and emission intensity from selected agricultural and livestock sources, examine emission changes and associated factors, and project future emissions under a trend-continuation scenario (TCS) and a policy-target scenario (PTS). Total emissions increased from 9.8472 Mt C-eq in 2005 to 14.5223 Mt C-eq in 2023, while carbon-equivalent emission intensity declined over the same period. Livestock-related emissions remained dominant, although the contribution of agricultural emissions increased over time, with cattle and sheep accounting for most livestock-related emissions. Panel estimates showed significant positive associations between emissions and year-end rural population, year-end large-livestock inventory, and real agricultural and animal husbandry output value per capita at constant 2005 prices. Monte Carlo analysis showed that emission-factor uncertainty had a notable influence on absolute emission levels, with a coefficient of variation of 9.04% in 2023; enteric-fermentation CH4 emission factors for cattle and sheep were the dominant sources of uncertainty. Among the models compared, Ridge regression showed the strongest overall validation performance. Emissions are projected to continue increasing through 2035 under both the TCS and PTS, reaching 16.5974 and 16.5012 Mt C-eq, respectively, indicating that the currently quantifiable policy constraints alone are insufficient to reverse the projected upward trend. Future mitigation should therefore prioritize major livestock-related emission sources and regionally differentiated management, while further refinement of the emission inventory should focus on developing more regionally representative livestock emission factors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Farm Carbon Footprint Measurement for Sustainable Agrifood Systems)
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20 pages, 601 KB  
Article
Decoding the Green Choice: Climate Awareness, Mandatory Labelling, and Urban–Rural Differences in Willingness to Pay for Low-Carbon Agriculture
by Ionut Laurentiu Petre, Georgiana-Raluca Ladaru, Raluca Andreea Ion, Maria-Claudia Diaconeasa and Steliana Mocanu
Agriculture 2026, 16(12), 1345; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16121345 - 18 Jun 2026
Viewed by 565
Abstract
This study investigates the psychological and contextual mechanisms through which consumers’ awareness of agriculture’s contribution to climate change translates into a willingness to pay (WTP) for low-carbon agricultural products. Drawing on data from Eurobarometer 93.2 (ZA7739; N = 24,193), the research applies a [...] Read more.
This study investigates the psychological and contextual mechanisms through which consumers’ awareness of agriculture’s contribution to climate change translates into a willingness to pay (WTP) for low-carbon agricultural products. Drawing on data from Eurobarometer 93.2 (ZA7739; N = 24,193), the research applies a moderated mediation model (Hayes’ PROCESS Model 14) to examine the mediating role of support for mandatory environmental labelling and the moderating effect of residential context. The results indicate that climate change awareness is significantly and positively associated with WTP. Moreover, support for mandatory labelling partially mediates this relationship, suggesting that institutionalized transparency may serve as a key mechanism through which environmental concern becomes economically actionable. The findings further reveal that this indirect effect is moderated by the level of urbanization, being stronger in urban areas than in rural settings. This highlights the importance of socio-spatial context in shaping consumer responses to sustainability information. Overall, the study contributes to the literature on sustainable consumption by demonstrating that willingness to financially support low-carbon agriculture depends not only on environmental awareness but also on trust-enhancing policy instruments and contextual factors. The findings offer important implications for policymakers aiming to promote sustainable food systems through information-based regulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Farm Carbon Footprint Measurement for Sustainable Agrifood Systems)
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19 pages, 1123 KB  
Article
Climate Variability, Energy-Related CO2 Emissions, and Cereal Yields in Romania and Serbia: An ARDL Analysis
by Katica Radosavljević, Mirela Mitrašević, Simona Roxana Pătărlăgeanu, Jonel Subić and Mihai Dinu
Agriculture 2026, 16(10), 1060; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16101060 - 13 May 2026
Viewed by 532
Abstract
This study examines the associations of land temperature anomalies and energy-related CO2 emissions per hectare with wheat and maize yields in Romania and Serbia during 1992–2023. Energy-related CO2 emissions per hectare are used as a scale-adjusted proxy for energy-use intensity and [...] Read more.
This study examines the associations of land temperature anomalies and energy-related CO2 emissions per hectare with wheat and maize yields in Romania and Serbia during 1992–2023. Energy-related CO2 emissions per hectare are used as a scale-adjusted proxy for energy-use intensity and emissions associated with agricultural energy consumption, rather than as an indicator of climate intensity. The study contributes to the literature by applying a comparative ARDL framework to Romania and Serbia, two Central and Southeast European agricultural systems with different institutional contexts, integrating climate variability, nitrogen fertilizer use and energy-use-related emissions into a unified crop-specific analysis. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) framework, we estimate long-run equilibrium relationships and short-run dynamics between cereal yields and the selected explanatory variables. The results partially support the proposed hypotheses by indicating heterogeneous country- and crop-specific relationships. In Romania, nitrogen fertilizer use is positively associated with wheat and maize yields, while rising land temperature anomalies are negatively associated with maize productivity. In Serbia, energy-related CO2 emissions per hectare show a statistically significant negative long-run relationship with maize yields, whereas no statistically robust long-run relationships are identified for wheat. The findings highlight the importance of energy efficiency, input optimization and country-specific decarbonization strategies for sustainable cereal production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Farm Carbon Footprint Measurement for Sustainable Agrifood Systems)
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