The Role of Nanotechnology in Developing a Sustainable Agriculture: Novel Challenges and Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

Agriculture is a key sector due to its prominent role in providing food for the sustainment of societal development. The significant growth of the world population highlights the need for the qualitative and quantitative increase in food production in a sustainable way in the near feature. This poses crucial challenges for agriculture, requiring prompt addressal and encompassing the use of (nonrenewable) resources and land, the increase in crop yield, the efficiency of agricultural practices and their relationship with environmental degradation and the mitigation of detrimental climate change effects. In this view, nanotechnology offers great opportunities for the sustainable development of agriculture to cope with the increasing demand for food production. Indeed, vast classes of designed and engineered nanomaterials have been successfully applied for increasing the nutrient-use efficiency, the quality and quantity of plant yields, improving plant growth and providing effective tools for pathogen detection, crop protection and stress management. Last, but not least, nanotechnology plays an important role in soil and water remediation, amending the detrimental effects of past unsustainable and pollutant agricultural practices. Despite the promising results obtained using novel nanomaterial-based approaches, in-depth studies on their environmental risks, bioavailability and possible toxicity are scarce, although being a research field worth of investigation before their effective deployment in large-scale applications. Thus, in this Special Issue, we aim to provide a discussion platform and welcome all contributions integrating nanomaterial-based technology into agriculture. Papers should explore development in terms of the sustainability of the syntheses and preparation of nanomaterials, novel applications and beneficial effects with respect to current practices, as well as their safety and environmental risk assessments for their future deployment.

Dr. Gregorio Dal Sasso
Dr. Francisco Carmona
Guest Editors

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• nanotechnology
• precision agriculture
• food security
• environmental remediation