Sustainable and AI-Driven Approaches to Managing the Soil-Water Complex in Agriculture

Dear Colleagues,

Water shortage is a serious worldwide issue, and the demand–supply balance for water is approaching a tipping point in the majority of regions, particularly where natural resources are limited. As water shortages intensify to critical levels in most regions, the demand outpaces the supply. We still do not completely understand the natural water–soil system; therefore, adopting an eco-friendly strategy to utilize the irrigation water is most crucial, ensuring that the maximum water efficiency and crop yield are attained. Over the past few decades, in anticipation of the incoming climate change, the management of water has become a high-priority area. Timely irrigation water management, soil pollution monitoring, and physical and chemical soil status examination are fundamental for the future. Future generations require sustainable soil–water management, and other aspects such as the rising climatic crisis, soil and water pollution, soil fertility loss, etc., must be considered. As artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly part of everyday life, we expect their further integration into agriculture. Thus, research associated with efficient water management in agriculture, intelligent irrigation planning, soil health, efficient land use planning, improved yield through intelligent approaches, water quality, physical, and chemical and hydraulic properties of soils in agriculture may provide key solutions for the future.

The main goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) that provide insights into the following areas: water saving in agriculture; efficient land use planning; agricultural hydraulics; smart irrigation planning; improved yield using intelligent techniques; water quality; the physical, chemical, and hydraulic properties of agricultural soils; and the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques in the soil–water complex.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

• Agricultural hydraulics; hydraulic parameters of agricultural soils; comparison with urban soils; water movement into the vadose zone; water movement in saturated and unsaturated soils; canals; flow control; and drainage systems.
• Irrigation (surface irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, drip irrigation, individual and collective irrigation systems); smart irrigation systems; and automation and AI in irrigation.
• Water saving in agriculture using smart irrigation scheduling, mulching, precision agriculture, and smart sensors.
• Effects of oil pollution on soil structure, water holding capacity, leaching, and runoff; the impact of soil remediation on agricultural water use and sustainable irrigation.
• Drift analysis, remote sensing, real-time decision making, predictive models for drift, and water saving through AI and drift control.
• Land uses, land cover, soil degradation and improvement, soil health, efficient land use planning, crop rotation, and intercropping for reducing stress on water resources.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Anastasia Angelaki
Dr. Parveen Sihag
Guest Editors

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• agricultural hydraulics
• irrigation planning
• water saving
• soil pollution and remediation
• efficient land uses
• soil degradation
• drift analysis
• machine learning
• artificial intelligence
• smart sensors