Sustainable Harvesting: Integrating Pre-Harvest and Post-Harvest Technologies for Crop Production
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Farming Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 December 2025 | Viewed by 334
Special Issue Editors
Interests: antioxidants; eco-friendly technologies; food safety; fruit quality; postharvest; preharvest
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: pre-harvest; antioxidants; polyphenols; fruit quality; gene expression; metabolic pathways
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Success in marketing fruit and vegetables is determined by the quality and shelf-life of the products. Fruit and vegetables are also an important source of health-promoting bioactive compounds and are consumed in the daily diets of people around the world. In recent years, growing concern about climate change has led to a commitment to sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture. In this sense, some agronomic practices applied at the pre-harvest stage are more focused on productivity than on quality. In this sense, increasing knowledge of the importance of metabolic networks regulating maturity, ripening and senescence could be a new approach to improve product management. Furthermore, the adoption of sustainable practices and regulatory standards is necessary to improve the quality and safety of fresh produce and to reduce environmental damage. On the other hand, food waste has become a global problem and is generated at different stages throughout the food chain, from primary production to consumption. Therefore, the management of food quality and safety both before and after harvest using sustainable technologies is a fundamental aspect of the food supply chain, ensuring that fresh food categories maintain their quality, nutritional value and safety from harvest to consumption, while these practices reduce the impact on the environment.
The Special Issue aims to gather publications on innovative pre- and postharvest strategies and technologies for crop production. This Special Issue is looking for original research articles and reviews that focus on but are not limited to the following topics:
- New agronomic practices and technologies to improve the quality and shelf-life of fruit and vegetables.
- Effects of harvesting, handling, processing, storage and distribution on physiological, nutritional and nutraceutical parameters.
- Emerging technologies to improve and control the safety, health and sustainability of fresh and minimally processed fruits and vegetables.
- Physiology and technology of fresh and minimally processed products and factors affecting quality changes and shelf-life.
- Quality assessment of fresh and minimally processed products.
- Application and composition of controlled and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP).
- Methods and technologies for the production and application of edible coatings to fresh and minimally processed products.
- Factors influencing quality loss and waste in the food chain.
Dr. Maria Jose Gimenez Torres
Dr. Vicente Serna-Escolano
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 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. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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
- fruits
- vegetables
- preharvest management
- postharvest sustainable technologies
- food quality
- shelf-life
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