Advances in Protected Cropping Technology

Dear colleague,

Declining arable land, the growing demand for food and more nutrition, and the adverse effects from climate change all impact agriculture and horticulture, sparking innovation in sustainable future food production systems. These challenges can be addressed through protected cropping of horticultural crops in controlled greenhouse environments. Protected cropping and indoor farming require a greater use of technology and automation to optimise land use, thereby offering new solutions to improve future food systems.

Innovations in energy-efficient greenhouse designs can provide energy savings using covering materials, fertigation optimisation, and water and nutrient recycling, as well as sensor system technologies. Automation of pollination and harvesting has potential to improve efficiency and reduce labour costs. Research testing the application of these new technologies and ensuring they do not compromise plant growth, yield, postharvest quality, or pest management is crucial to the success and sustainability of food production systems. This Special Issue encourages submissions related to advancements in protected cropping that address horticultural crop production and yield, food quality and nutrition, resource sustainability, pest management, environmental sustainability, and future food systems.

Cutting-edge research articles, reviews, and opinion letters that address areas related to greenhouse energy use, plant growth, environment factors driving plant responses, crop physiology, biochemical processes, flowering, pollination, yield, and/or nutritional quality are invited. Technological innovations that improve the sustainability of production systems, resource use efficiency, crop monitoring, crop growth modelling, remote sensing of crop production, nutrient quality, and pest management and/or address the cost-to-benefit analysis in protected cropping systems are welcome.

Dr. Christopher Cazzonelli
Dr. Sachin Chavan
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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crops 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 1200 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.