Sustainability of Agriculture: The Impact of Climate Change on Crops

Dear Colleagues,

The primary objective of sustainable agriculture is to ensure the fulfilment of current global food and textile demands while safeguarding the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This entails considering the sustainability of resources, maintaining a healthy environment, ensuring economic profitability, and promoting social and economic equity. Agricultural production, being highly dependent on land, water, and other natural resources, is profoundly influenced by weather patterns and climate change. Climate change scenarios predict unfavorable conditions during the growing season, such as water shortages for irrigation, heat waves, droughts, alterations in frost length and timing, changes in air pollution, variations in pest and disease severity, reduced bloom pollination, and soil erosion. These factors have the potential to impact the adaptability of major cultivated species within a specific region, consequently leading to a significant decline in crop production. This Special Issue focuses on the interplay between climate change and sustainable agriculture. It aims to highlight the latest developments in climate-resilient practices related to crop productivity under changing climatic conditions, including new adaptive genetic resources, sustainable management practices for crop growth and pest control, resource conservation, and farmers’ adaptation processes, considering food quality and economic profit. We welcome original research articles, technical articles, reviews, and meta-analyses. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• The impact of climate change on crop production;
• The impact of climate change on food quality and security;
• Adaptable plant genetic resources to abiotic and biotic stress;
• Crop adaptation to climate change;
• Climate-risk-mitigating tools;
• Adaptation processes of agriculture to climate change;
• Precision agriculture, AI, and IoT contributions to crop sustainability under climate change;
• Circular economy and crop adaptability to climate change;
• International initiatives/policies for climate-resilient and adaptive agricultural practices.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Fokion Papathanasiou
Dr. Elissavet Ninou
Dr. Ioannis Mylonas
Guest Editors

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