**6. Conclusions**

In conclusion, the production of mineral-dense vegetables will deserve a prominent place in the coming years. Agronomic biofortification, even if it involves expensive experimental activities, represents the only strategy in the case of vegetables, for which genetic improvement programs would be rather complex and not very convenient due to the high rate of varietal turnover. The main challenges for agronomic biofortification in the immediate future will rely on the efficiency of fertilization process and bioavailability of minerals, the high cost of some specific chemical formulations, the possible yield losses due to biofortification-induced alterations of plant metabolism, and the potential environmental/health impact deriving from new agronomic protocols (as in the case, for example of copper and selenium). Deeper knowledge in these areas must be considered indispensable to achieve sound conclusions about the costs/benefits of biofortification.

The papers discussed in this review report promising results for several minerals and pillar vegetables in the human diet; however, the results are not entirely consistent and coherent. The future activities, beyond their specific scientific relevance, should be planned in a broader context, adopting an approach involving also farmers, traders, nutritionists, and educators. Evidence from research shows that farmers are willing to cultivate and commercialize biofortified crops and the few and selected products available in the market demonstrates that consumers are favorably eating them. Furthermore, nutrition specialists together with health educators can also have an impact on the population's eating habits and contribute to increase the consumption of the target vegetables. Such an approach, thanks also to the nutritional importance of vegetables, will certainly have a significant impact on improving human diet.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, C.L. and F.G.; methodology, C.L., F.G., R.P.M. and C.V.B.; validation, R.P.M., F.G. and C.V.B.; data curation, C.V.B. and R.P.M.; writing—Original draft preparation, C.V.B. and R.P.M.; writing—Review and editing, V.F. and C.L.; supervision, C.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data sharing not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
