Special Issue "Farming 4.0: Towards Sustainable Agriculture"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Charisios Achillas
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Supply Chain Management, International Hellenic University, 60100 Katerini, Greece
Interests: sustainable management; accessible tourism; operational research
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Dionysis Bochtis
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Bio-economy and Agri-technology (iBO), Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CERTH), 38333 Volos, Greece
Interests: operations management; supply chain automation; agri-business; ICT-agri; bio-energy; bio-recourses
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dimitrios Aidonis
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Supply Chain Management, International Hellenic University, 60100 Katerini, Greece
Interests: sustainable management; accessible tourism; operational research
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Undeniably, over the last few years, humanity has faced several threats, but also challenges, in relation to its security and preservation. As the world population is continuously growing, nutrition and food security are among the most critical debates in the public dialogue internationally, constituting a crucial aspect for global security and a prerequisite for democracy and freedom. In the years to come, the world will unquestionably require more (even doubled compared to current needs) food. Moreover, environmental deterioration due to agrifood production presents a major risk on global sustainability for the generations to come. In this light, the need for immediate actions is urgent. On the other hand, late rapid technological developments and advancements in ICT, ΙοΤ, robotics, automation, sensors, and farming equipment present major opportunities for humankind and provide stakeholders (governments, policy-makers, scientists, investors, agrifood companies, retailers, farmers, consumers, etc.) with revolutionary tools to boost efficiency in food production, battle against environmental degradation, and improve labor conditions and public well-being. To that end, digitization of agriculture constitutes a critical parameter of success toward sustainable development. Apart from this trend, “Farming 4.0” is widely accepted as the future of farming, influencing food security, poverty, and the overall sustainability of agricultural systems, by minimizing the required inputs in resources and maximizing agri-production. Farming 4.0 is expected to shift toward an innovation- and knowledge-based economy, ultimately resulting in safe, cost-effective, efficient, and environmentally sound agriculture.

This Special Issue seeks to contribute to the sustainable agriculture agenda through enriching scientific knowledge in an effort to proliferate performance efficiency and support decision-making in modern agri-business. In this context, we invite papers on innovative technical developments, reviews, case studies, and analytical, as well as assessment, papers from different disciplines, which are relevant to all different aspects related to the digitization of agriculture within the fields of primary agriculture, agrifood production, and agrifood supply chains. Indicatively, the following topics are welcome to be captured in the contributions to the present Special Issue: information and communication technologies (ICT), Internet of Things (IoT), machine-embedded tools, robotics, automation, human–computer interaction, artificial intelligence, remote sensing (e.g., wireless sensor networks, remote sensing and GIS applications, biosensors, physical/chemical/optical sensors), data management (e.g., big data, data mining, data visualization, image processing, knowledge management, data/metadata standards, ontologies for agriculture, knowledge repository, web of data and open data), traceability tools, social networking, etc.

Prof. Charisios Achillas
Prof. Dionysis Bochtis
Prof. Dimitrios Aidonis
Guest Editors

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

  • ICT
  • IoT
  • precision farming
  • robotics
  • automation
  • remote sensing
  • big data
  • machine-embedded tools

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
A Farm Management Information System for Semi-Supervised Path Planning and Autonomous Vehicle Control
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7497; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137497 - 05 Jul 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 522
Abstract
This paper presents a farm management information system targeting improvements in the ease of use and sustainability of robot farming systems. The system integrates the functionalities of field survey, path planning, monitoring, and controlling agricultural vehicles in real time. Firstly, a Grabcut-based semi-supervised [...] Read more.
This paper presents a farm management information system targeting improvements in the ease of use and sustainability of robot farming systems. The system integrates the functionalities of field survey, path planning, monitoring, and controlling agricultural vehicles in real time. Firstly, a Grabcut-based semi-supervised field registration method is proposed for arable field detection from the orthoimage taken by the drone with an RGB camera. It partitions a complex field into simple geometric entities with simple user interaction. The average Mean Intersection over Union is about 0.95 when the field size ranges from 2.74 ha to 5.06 ha. In addition, a desktop software and a web application are developed as the entity of an FMIS. Compared to existing FMISs, this system provides more advanced features in robot farming, while providing simpler user interaction and better results. It allows clients to invoke web services and receive responses independent of programming language and platforms. Moreover, the system is compatible with other services, users, and devices following the open-source access protocol. We have evaluated the system by controlling 5 robot tractors with a 2 Hz communication frequency. The communication protocols will be publicly available to protentional users. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Farming 4.0: Towards Sustainable Agriculture)
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Article
Feeding Models to Optimize Dairy Feed Rations in View of Feed Availability, Feed Prices and Milk Production Scenarios
Sustainability 2021, 13(1), 215; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010215 - 04 Jan 2021
Viewed by 847
Abstract
In the global dairy production sector, feed ingredient price and availability are highly volatile; they may shape the composition of the feed ration and, in consequence, impact feed cost and enteric methane (CH4) emissions. The objective of this study is to [...] Read more.
In the global dairy production sector, feed ingredient price and availability are highly volatile; they may shape the composition of the feed ration and, in consequence, impact feed cost and enteric methane (CH4) emissions. The objective of this study is to explore the impact of changes in feed ingredients’ prices and feed ingredients’ availability on dairy ration composition, feed cost and predicted methane yield under different levels of milk production. To meet the research aim, a series of multi-period linear programming models were developed. The models were then used to simulate 14 feed rations formulations, each covering 162 months and three dairy production levels of 10, 25 and 35 kg milk/d, representing a total of 6804 feed rations altogether. Across milk production levels, the inclusion of alfalfa hay into the feed rations declined from 55% to 38% when daily milk production increased from 10 to 35 kg, reflecting the cows’ increased energy requirements. At a daily milk production level of 35 kg, CH4 production (per kg milk) was 21% and 53% lower than in average and low milk producing cows, respectively, whereas at 10 kg of milk production the potential to reduce CH4 production varied between 0.6% and 5.5% (average = 3.9%). At all production levels, a reduction in CH4 output was associated with an increase in feed costs. Overall, and considering feeding scenarios in low milk producing cows, feed cost per kg milk was 30% and 37% higher compared to that of average and high milk production, respectively. The feed ration modeling approach allows us to account for the interaction between feed ingredients over time, taking into consideration volatile global feed prices. Overall, the model provides a decision-making tool to improve the use of feed resources in the dairy sector. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Farming 4.0: Towards Sustainable Agriculture)
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Article
Can the Adoption of Protected Cultivation Facilities Affect Farm Sustainability?
Sustainability 2020, 12(23), 9970; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12239970 - 28 Nov 2020
Viewed by 516
Abstract
Given the increasing threat of climate change to agriculture, determining how to achieve farm sustainability is important for researchers and policy makers. Among others, protected cultivation has been proposed as a possible adaptive solution at the farm level. This study contributes to this [...] Read more.
Given the increasing threat of climate change to agriculture, determining how to achieve farm sustainability is important for researchers and policy makers. Among others, protected cultivation has been proposed as a possible adaptive solution at the farm level. This study contributes to this research topic by quantifying the effects of the use of protected cultivation facilities on farm sustainability. In contrast to previous studies that relied on small-scale random surveys, a population-based sample of fruit, flower and vegetable farms was drawn from the Agricultural Census Survey in Taiwan. Propensity score matching, inverse probability weighting and inverse probability weighting regression adjustment methods were applied. Empirical results show that the use of protected cultivation facilities increases farm profit by 68–73%, other things being equal. This finding is persistent when farms suffer from disaster shocks. Moreover, the changes in farm labor use can be seen as a mechanism behind the positive effect of the protected cultivation facility use on farm profit. Our findings suggest that agricultural authority can consider subsidizing farms to increase the adoption of protected cultivation facilities to mitigate the risks resulting from natural disaster shocks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Farming 4.0: Towards Sustainable Agriculture)
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