Advances in Integrated Crop–Livestock Systems Research

Dear Colleagues,

Over the years, intensive monoculture in agricultural areas has led to negative environmental impacts, such as rising atmo­spheric greenhouse gas concentrations, water-quality degradation, decreasing groundwater levels, a loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, and land degradation. This continued decline in environmental quality will create food security problems in the near future since the resource base necessary for food production is in the process of degradation. Hence, the agricultural community is facing its greatest question to date: how can food production be increased to maintain food security and, at the same time, to protect and restore environmental quality? In this respect, integrated crop–livestock systems have been encouraged worldwide as they align with the principles of cleaner production, and optimize the productivity per unit of the natural resource.

In this Special Issue, we aim to exchange knowledge on any aspects related to integrated crop–livestock systems, thus facilitating their introduction to improve crop/animal production in these more complex systems and to adequately take advantage of their ecological benefits.

Dr. Laíse Pontes
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• ecological intensification
• ecosystem services
• system fertilization
• nutrient cycling
• soil quality
• animal production
• productivity