Special Issue "Sustainable Agriculture Through Technological Intervention"

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lisa Lobry de Bruyn
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, 2351 NSW, Australia
Interests: soil biota; ants; soil function; local soil knowledge; soil carbon management; soil monitoring; soil health; sustainable livelihoods; landholder pereception of environmental change; sustainable soil management; soil governance; farmer adoption
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
2. PMAS Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Punjab , Pakistan
Interests: agronomy; agroecosystems modeling; cropping systems; farm modeling; crop physiology; nutrients cycling; climate change; impact assessments; adaptation and mitigation
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable increases in agricultural production are needed to feed the world’s growing population. Similarly, by adopting sustainable agricultural production methods, we can minimize greenhouse gas emissions, food losses and wastes, improve crop productivity and the global supply chain, and can provide nutritive food to world communities suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Sustainable agriculture ensures food security, quality, and safety. It also considers environmental health, economic profitability, and social equity. The researchers and the practitioners working in the field of sustainable agriculture integrate principles of environmental sustainability, economic profitability, and equity in their workplace. Sustainable agriculture provides a solid foundation for food safety, security, and environmental quality. Furthermore, it can contribute to economic growth at the national and global scale. However, to establish a sustainable agricultural system, we need to connect diverse stakeholders with real-time information on the functioning of their resources system through a number of metrics—social, economic and environmental. These stakeholders include farmers, agricultural researchers, economic experts, policy makers, distributors, consumers, food processors and waste managers.   

Technological interventions such as the use of the geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) in the agricultural system offers great opportunity to provide real-time data on system performance and functioning. The generation of big data and its role require further exploration, as does the questions of how it can be further utilized by advanced modelling tools to generate informative results and answers to the why, what and how questions relevant to stakeholders. Ultimately, this will all inform efforts and guide strategies for improving sustainable agriculture from a global, national and local perspective.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present original research articles and review work on all aspects of digital data and its role in sustainable agriculture. In this Special Issue, we seek original work focused on addressing new research and development challenges, innovative techniques, GIS and RS, artificial intelligence and simulation solutions for sustainable agriculture. Specific topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Resource management and optimization for sustainable agriculture;
  • Evolving trends in sustainable agriculture;
  • Precision agriculture;
  • Artificial intelligence for sustainable agriculture;
  • Modern GIS and RS techniques in agriculture;
  • Internet of Things (IOT) for sustainable agriculture;
  • Smart sensors for sustainable agriculture;
  • Green computing for sustainable agriculture;
  • Green energy and systems for agriculture;
  • Real-time monitoring in smart agriculture;
  • Data mining and statistical issues in precision agriculture;
  • Decision support systems for precision agriculture;
  • Emerging tools and techniques for precision agriculture;
  • Role of big data in sustainable agriculture;
  • Big data innovation in sustainable agriculture;
  • Environmental big data integration;
  • Smart farm and its application in big data;
  • Big data in agricultural disaster management;
  • Cloud-enabled techniques and innovation for sustainable agriculture;

Knowledge discovery in agriculture databases

Dr. Lisa Lobry de Bruyn
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed
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

  • Sustainable agriculture
  • Precision agriculture
  • Decision support systems
  • Smart sensors
  • Big data
  • Sustainability indicators

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Physio-Chemical Characterization of Biochar, Compost and Co-Composted Biochar Derived from Green Waste
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4628; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094628 - 21 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 634
Abstract
Organic wastes are naturally biodegradable, but they contribute to environmental pollution and management issues. Composting and pyrolysis are widely used technologies for recycling these wastes into valuable organic products for soil health and crop production. In the current study, fruits vegetables waste (FVW) [...] Read more.
Organic wastes are naturally biodegradable, but they contribute to environmental pollution and management issues. Composting and pyrolysis are widely used technologies for recycling these wastes into valuable organic products for soil health and crop production. In the current study, fruits vegetables waste (FVW) was converted to biochar, compost, and co-composted biochar. The microcrystal structure, functional groups, surface morphology, and nutrient contents of organic materials were investigated by XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDS, AAS, multi C-N analyzer, and ICP-OES techniques. Heavy metals contamination was not detected in the biomass used for pyrolysis and compost preparation. FVW had an acidic pH (5.92), while biochar, compost, and co-composted biochar had an alkaline pH. Total macronutrient (K, Na, S) and micronutrient (Cu, Fe) concentrations were higher in compost and co-composted biochar, with the exception of K, which was higher in biochar. Biochar had the highest surface area (4.99 m2g), followed by FVW, compost, and co-composted biochar. Co-composted biochar had a porous structure. Si, Ca, and Al contents were common in all organic materials, while P, K, Mg, and S were found with lower concentrations in both biochar and compost. Iron was only found in compost and co-composted biochar. Quartz, sylvite, and calcite were common minerals found in all organic treatments. Biochar contained more aromatic carbon ring structure C=C/C=O and aromatic C-H bending as compared to FVW and compost, thus, making biochar a stable carbon rich material suitable for soil carbon sequestration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture Through Technological Intervention)
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Article
Development of a Spatial Model for Soil Quality Assessment under Arid and Semi-Arid Conditions
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2893; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052893 - 07 Mar 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1053
Abstract
Food security has become a global concern for humanity with rapid population growth, requiring a sustainable assessment of natural resources. Soil is one of the most important sources that can help to bridge the food demand gap to achieve food security if well [...] Read more.
Food security has become a global concern for humanity with rapid population growth, requiring a sustainable assessment of natural resources. Soil is one of the most important sources that can help to bridge the food demand gap to achieve food security if well assessed and managed. The aim of this study was to determine the soil quality index (SQI) for El Fayoum depression in the Western Egyptian Desert using spatial modeling for soil physical, chemical, and biological properties based on the MEDALUS methodology. For this purpose, a spatial model was developed to evaluate the soil quality of the El Fayoum depression in the Western Egyptian Desert. The integration between Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Sentinel-2 satellite image was used to produce landforms and digital soil mapping for the study area. Results showed that the study area located under six classes of soil quality, e.g., very high-quality class represents an area of 387.12 km2 (22.7%), high-quality class occupies 441.72 km2 (25.87%), the moderate-quality class represents 208.57 km2 (12.21%), slightly moderate-quality class represents 231.10 km2 (13.5%), as well as, a low-quality class covering an area of 233 km2 (13.60%), and very low-quality class occupies about 206 km2 (12%). The Agricultural Land Evaluation System for arid and semi-arid regions (ALESarid) was used to estimate land capability. Land capability classes were non-agriculture class (C6), poor (C4), fair (C3), and good (C2) with an area 231.87 km2 (13.50%), 291.94 km2 (17%), 767.39 km2 (44.94%), and 416.07 km2 (24.4%), respectively. Land capability along with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) used for validation of the proposed model of soil quality. The spatially-explicit soil quality index (SQI) shows a strong significant positive correlation with the land capability and a positive correlation with NDVI at R2 0.86 (p < 0.001) and 0.18 (p < 0.05), respectively. In arid regions, the strategy outlined here can easily be re-applied in similar environments, allowing decision-makers and regional governments to use the quantitative results achieved to ensure sustainable development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agriculture Through Technological Intervention)
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