Preface to the Special Issue “Agricultural Environmental Pollution, Risk Assessment, and Control”

Recent developments in agriculture have played a key role in meeting the food needs of 8.1 billion people worldwide. However, the sector is also responsible for 14% of total greenhouse gas emissions and 70% of irrigation water use. This makes agriculture one of the largest contributors to environmental pollution and global climate change. However, the excessive release of pollutants from urban, industrial, commercial, and other sectors has led to the contamination of agro-ecosystems, ultimately affecting the health of consumers. In particular, the excessive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, urban and industrial runoff, excessive tillage, machinery, etc., have contributed to the contamination and degradation of agro-ecosystems. The contamination of food crops leads to adverse effects on both plant and human health, while rapid changes in global climate have a significant impact on crop production, leading to food insecurity. Thus, there is an urgent need to accelerate the search and adoption of sustainable technologies for agricultural production.

This Special Issue on “Agricultural Environmental Pollution, Risk Assessment, and Control” published novel research that addressed current agricultural and environmental challenges affecting global food security and consumer health. This Special Issue contains a total of 18 published articles that focus on a wide range of agricultural and environmental pollution problems and provide cutting-edge solutions to address them. The first article in this Special Issue highlighted how the degradation and transport of Cd and kasugamycin (an aminoglycoside antibiotic) in cultivated spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) could be mitigated by the use of wheat-straw-derived biochar [1]. In the second article, toxicological studies were conducted to investigate the effect of rockwool on earthworms (Eisenia fetida) when used as a nursery substrate [2]. Similarly, the third article dealt with the spatio-temporal and residual analysis of thirteen (13) antibiotics in livestock and poultry, i.e., pigs, chickens, cattle, and sheep, in China [3]. Similarly, the fourth article in this Special Issue addressed issues related to the emission of air pollutants from the overuse of tractors in Korea [4]. The fifth article focused on the use of curry leaf (Murraya koenigii) extract as a sustainable herbicide to suppress weeds while improving the growth and biochemical traits of two crops, wheat (Triticum aestivum) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) [5]. The sixth article also investigated the uptake and bioaccumulation of Cu and Ni metals in cocksfoot grass (Dactylis glomerata L.) as influenced by zinc and organic fertilizer applications [6]. The seventh article highlighted that the combined use of biochar, halloysite, and alginate could improve the quality of soils contaminated with petroleum waste products [7]. The eighth paper described the feasibility of a tax scheme to balance the environmental and economic burdens of large-scale pig farming in China [8]. In the ninth article, AL-Huqail et al. [9] presented a novel remediation solution for agricultural soils contaminated with battery waste by using a weed grass species (Cyperus rotundus L.).

The tenth article emphasized an integrated ecological risk assessment system for monitoring agricultural lands, using chemical, ecotoxicological, and ecological indicators as key factors [10]. The eleventh article dealt with the evaluation of a dynamic tube method for estimating ammonia emissions from agricultural fields under manure application [11]. Similarly, the twelfth article demonstrated the development of a portable spectrometer for the efficient detection of chemical contaminants in irrigation water systems [12]. The thirteenth paper highlighted that livelihood capital played a significant role in determining the attitude of farmers in the Yilong Lake Basin, China, which ultimately affected the performance of agricultural pollution management [13]. Furthermore, in the fourteenth article, Signorelli et al. [14] applied a quality-specific environmental risk index to understand pollution-impacted hive locations. The fifteenth article highlighted that social network participation plays an important role in improving farmers’ participation in irrigation water-saving system management in China [15]. The sixteenth article showed that irrigation with industrial wastewater could introduce toxic metalloids into the edible parts of rice crops grown in urban areas [16]. Similarly, the penultimate article highlighted that the use of biopreparations can help to reduce ammonia emissions from cattle farms, considering manure storage time and ventilation intensities as important factors [17]. The very last article in this Special Issue dealt with the biomonitoring of eight heavy metals (As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in topsoil samples from cultivated fields in Laiyang County, East China [18].

Therefore, this Special Issue published articles that addressed various problems related to agricultural and environmental pollution and provided useful information for their management. Overall, this Special Issue serves as a valuable resource for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to promote effective pollution control and sustainable agricultural practices.