Special Issue "Advances in Vegetable Crops Agroecology in a Changing Climate"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 March 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Hector Valenzuela
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Vegetable Crops Extension Specialist, University of Hawaii, Manoa, HI, USA
Interests: germplasm evaluation composting; organic amendments; habitat management; no-till farming; organic farming

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change may be reaching the tipping point, the point at which the environmental impacts of global warming become irreversible. While highly productive on an area basis, conventional agriculture based on large-scale monocultures, has considerable short-comings with respect to human health, biodiversity losses, soil erosion, and environmental impacts, as well as on food insecurity and social inequity in rural settings.

Agroecology, based on an understanding and application of ecological concepts, and on the  integration of socially responsible programs in production agriculture, has been put forward, as an alternative to conventional systems, to better mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. Over the past 30 years significant agroecological advances have been accomplished, with respect to the science, and on-farm implementation, with the participation of social rural movements in many parts of the world, but especially Latin America. Vegetable crops provide an important supplemental source of income for small-farmers and also represent an integral part of the human diet, to prevent problems of malnutrition.

This Special Issue aims to gather the latest developments in the field of agroecology, to explore concepts of resiliency with respect to climate change, and their application and adoption for the production of vegetable crops.

Potential topics include (but are not limited to):

  • Agroecological concepts that foster resilient systems and improved resource use efficiency (including germplasm adoption, soil, nutrients, water).
  • The effect of habitat management, vegetation diversification and landscape effects on arthropod population dynamics, soil biota, crop growth and productivity, and system interactions.
  • Ecophysiological mechanisms (photosynthesis, light interception, nutrient uptake, water relations, root growth, crop stress adaptation) under diversified vegetable cropping systems.
  • The integration of agroforestry and livestock with vegetable cropping systems.
  • The adoption of indigenous or local knowledge to improve vegetable cropping systems.
  • The socioeconomic impacts of agroecology adoption with respect to food security, social justice, household well being, and resilience under vegetable cropping systems
  • The adoption of scaling-up strategies such as biodistricts, social farming, and circular economy paradigms to promote agroecology programs at a regional level.

Prof. Dr. Hector Valenzuela
Guest Editor

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 papers will be 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. Sustainability 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 1900 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

  • agroecology
  • climate change
  • resilient systems
  • diversification
  • ecosystem services
  • multifunctional services
  • habitat management
  • agrobiodiversity
  • social justice

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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