Agroecology for Organic Vegetable Systems Redesign - Series II
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Agroecology Innovation: Achieving System Resilience".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 253
Special Issue Editor
Interests: organic farming; agroecology; allelopathy; ecological weed management; N dynamic in the soil-plant system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly highlighted, like never before, the close linkage between environmental and human health. In this fragile equilibrium, agriculture plays a crucial role. After the Green Revolution, modern agriculture moved towards intensification and simplification, causing a remarkable loss of biodiversity in agro-ecosystems, which have become highly vulnerable. In this context, a massive use of external inputs is pursued, exposing people, ecosystems, and their biocomponents to severe health risks.
There is a growing awareness of the healthy and nutritional value of vegetable consumption in both developing and developed countries. However, vegetable cropping systems are particularly intensive. Organic management, if only relying on the compliance to organic regulation (i.e., the input substitution approach), is not far from conventional management, aiming for high yields per unit area without any real attention to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Therefore, re-designing organic vegetable systems through agroecological principles represents a valuable strategy to face future challenges in agriculture, by promoting high levels of diversity and ecosystem services provision, restoring land and landscapes while maintaining yields. As a “participatory science”, agroecology also relies on the farmers’ engagement in co-research/innovation activities, promoting a change in governance towards new, sustainable, local-centered food systems.
This Special Issue will be dedicated to recent experiences in re-designing organic vegetable systems through agroecological practices as far as stakeholders’ involvement in research and innovation. We seek contributions focusing on diversification strategies, soil conservation management, and waste and by-products recycling. We will consider multidisciplinary assessments on the effects of the agroecological and participatory approach on the systems’ economic, environmental, and social sustainability.
Dr. Elena Testani
Guest 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. 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
- agroecology
- organic vegetable systems
- system re-design
- stakeholder involvement
- diversification practices
- conservation agriculture
- organic inputs management
- agro-biodiversity
- sustainable management
