Hydroponics and Controlled Environment Agriculture
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water, Agriculture and Aquaculture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 9230
Special Issue Editor
Interests: greenhouse; hydroponics; vertical farming; environmental control; environmental impact assessment; CFD
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Along with an increasing population, the world faces climate change, rising fossil fuel prices, ecosystem degradation, and water and land scarcity—all of which are making today's food production methods increasingly unsustainable. According to the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in the next 20 years world food production must increase by 50%, while 80% of that increase must come from intensification. Increasing food demand due to a growing population along with ever decreasing natural resources (land, water, energy) poses one of the greatest challenges facing us. Limited water availability already poses a problem in many parts of Europe and the situation is likely to deteriorate further due to climate change, with Europe’s high water stress areas expected to increase from 19% today to 35% by the 2070s. The globalization of markets has increased the competitiveness whereas the consumers’ needs for healthy, safe, and locally produced products highlight the need for high quality production. The food and floral crops industries, including field agricultural and greenhouse controlled environments, are faced with significant pressures from high energy prices, water shortages, labor shortages, marketing challenges, and strong global competitions. In order to be competitive, the efficiency and productivity needs to be improved, and smart and integrated sustainable technologies have to be used. This can be achieved by developing the proposed smart technologies with automation, mechanization, and robotics for production, handling, and processing. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) optimizes indoor growing environments for crop production year-round. In controlled environments, agricultural production, plant growth practices, techniques, technologies, and methodologies should be addressed to the achievement of stated objectives by modifying and improving the relationship between plant growth, the components, and factors involved in the productive process. Greenhouse and hydroponics systems play a vital role in controlled environment agriculture because they can provide high-quality product all year round with an efficient use of resources, such as water, fertilisers, pesticides, and hand labour. This Special Issue aims to discuss various sustainability issues related to controlled environment agriculture, including but not limited to: Hydroponics systems, Substrates, Plant growth in closed cultivation systems, optimizing of water use, climate distribution, Hydroponics in vertical farming systems, Sustainability issues.
Prof. Dr. Thomas BartzanasGuest 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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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. Water 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 2600 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
- Hydroponics
- Greenhouse
- Vertical farming systems
- Substrates
- Automation & control
- Water use efficiency
- Environmental impact assesment
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
