Next-Generation Crop Management: Bridging AI Vision and Sensor Fusion for Smarter Agronomy

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Precision and Digital Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2026

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Weifang 261325, China
Interests: artificial intelligence; machine vision; robotics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Interests: Robotics; Agricultural Robots; Automation and Control Systems; Visual Servoing; Detection and Localization

Special Issue Information

As agriculture enters a new era of data-driven decision-making, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered vision systems and advanced sensor fusion is poised to transform crop management. With heightened challenges related to climate variability, resource limitations, and global food security, there is an urgent need to develop smarter, more adaptive solutions for sustainable agronomy.

This Special Issue focuses on innovative approaches that harness the synergy between AI-based computer vision and multisensor data fusion—including thermal, hyperspectral, LiDAR, and IoT-based environmental sensing—to enable precise, efficient, and intelligent crop monitoring and management. We welcome research that leverages these technologies to enhance phenotyping, stress detection, irrigation control, nutrient management, yield prediction, and post-harvest processing.

We encourage the submission of original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and technical communications that present novel methodologies, field validations, or integrated platforms combining AI and sensor technologies for next-generation precision agriculture.

By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between AI, agronomy, and sensor engineering, this Special Issue aims to advance the scientific foundation and practical implementation of climate-smart and resource-efficient farming systems.

We look forward to receiving contributions that push the boundaries of innovation in intelligent, sensor-integrated, and sustainable crop production.

Dr. Xiaojun Jin
Dr. Kaixiang Zhang
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. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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

  • AI-powered vision systems;sensor fusion;precision agriculture;multimodal crop monitoring;smart irrigation and fertilization;deep learning for plant phenotyping;thermal and hyperspectral sensing;field robotics and UAV-based sensing;climate-smart agronomy;agricultural intelligence systems

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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