Landscapes and Sustainable Farming

Dear Colleagues,

Landscapes and sustainable farming provide a compelling area for research into sustainable development and issues of environmental change and management, policy support and land and environment management. Farming plays a central and fundamental role in attempts to achieve a sustainable future within the limits of Earth resources [1] and forms an important part of Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger. Farming also influences environmental quality at multiple scales and has a core influence on many ecosystem goods and services. Issues of achieving sustainability in farming are receiving increasing attention, with initiatives and land management protocols being proposed that are productivity- or ecologically oriented [2], the former emphasising productivity, technology and optimised input management, the latter emphasising ecological processes and conservation practices [3]. Similarly, much landscape research also aims to address holistic understanding of coupling of human and natural systems to support sustainability. Landscape ecology, landscape planning, land systems science, geography and other disciplines and interdisciplinary research emphasise multi-functionality within landscapes, integration of humans and environment and spatial pattern and scale, as central to understanding coupling of environmental, social and economic systems and values [4,5].

This Special Issue is focussed on diverse perspectives on sustainable farming in landscapes, as a focus of research; as a framework for understanding complexity in sustainable farming and environmental, social and economic consequences; as a contribution to transition to land uses that achieves multiple purposes, and of case studies and examples that plan, design, modify and develop understanding for new land use patterns and farming systems in specific geographic landscapes that can function with the best environmental, economic and social outcomes in mind [6].

Reference

1. Meyfroidt, P.; de Bremond, A.; Ryan, C.M.; Archer, E.; Aspinall, R.; Chhabra, A.; Camara, C.; Corbera, E.; DeFries, R.; Díaz, S.; et al. Ten facts about land systems for sustainability. Available Online: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35131937/ (accessed on 12 May 2022)
2. Duff, H.; Hegedus, P.B.; Loewen, S.; Bass, T.; Maxwell, B.D. Precision Agroecology. Sustainability 2022, 14, 106. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010106.
3. Anderson, C.R.; Bruil, J.; Chappell, M.J.; Kiss, C.; Pimbert, M.P. From Transition to Domains of Transformation: Getting to Sustainable and Just Food Systems through Agroecology. Sustainability 2019, 11, 5272. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11195272.
4. Hermann, A.; Schleifer, S.; Wrbka, T. The Concept of Ecosystem Services Regarding Landscape Research: A Review. Living Rev. Landsc. Res. 2011, 5, pp. 1–37.
5. Verburg, P.H.; Mertz, O.; Erb, K.-H.; Haberl, H.; Wu, W. Land system change and food security: towards multi-scale land system solutions. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 2013, 5, pp. 494–502.
6. Mayer, A.L.; Buma, B.; Davis, A.; Gagné, S.A.; Loudermilk, E.L.; Scheller, R.M.; Schmiegelow, F.K.A.; Wiersma, Y.F.; Franklin, J. How Landscape Ecology Informs Global Land-Change Science and Policy. Bioscience 2016, 66, pp. 458–469.

Prof. Dr. Diane Pearson
Dr. Julian Gorman
Dr. Alfonso Piscitelli
Dr. Michele Staiano
Prof. Dr. Richard Aspinall
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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