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Agronomy
Special Issues
Agroecology, Organic Agriculture and Energy Efficiency of Food Production
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Agroecology, Organic Agriculture and Energy Efficiency of Food Production

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Farming Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 19291

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. David Pérez-Neira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economy and Statistics,Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, Leon University (Spain) Campus de Vegazana S/N 24071 León, Spain
Interests: agroecology; ecological economics;energy and sustainability
Prof. Dr. Gabrijel Ondrasek

E-Mail Website1 Website2 Website3
Guest Editor
Department of Soil Amelioration, Faculty of Agriculture University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: agroecosystems; soil salinization; crop stress; environmental salinization; salinity management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Marta Soler-Montiel

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Guest Editor
Department of Applied Economics, University of Seville, 41018 Seville, Spain
Interests: agroecology; ecofeminism aplied to agriculture and rural studies; agrarian energy analysis; alternative food networks
Dr. Xavier Simón Fernández

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Aplied Economics, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain
Interests: agroecology; ecological economics; renewable energy and sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues，

The high dependence on oil and the energy inefficiency of food production are two structural characteristics of conventional food production. Thus, in a context marked by climate change and oil depletion, energy and biophysical indicators should play a fundamental role in analyzing and guiding technical–productive decision making in the reconfiguration of agricultural systems. Organic agriculture, especially agroecological agriculture, is presented as a productive alternative to the dominant model. Numerous peasants, farmers, consumers and social actors around the world are actively working to improve the management of agro-ecosystems and promote agroecological transition processes. The diversification of production through rotations or polycultures, organic fertilization, soil and/or disease management without synthetic chemicals, the reduction in external energy inputs, the integrated design of agro-livestock systems or ecological intensification are some of the techniques used in agroecology and organic agriculture. In this sense, we invite professionals and researchers to submit original articles or reviews that analyze the extent to which the advance of organic/agroecological agriculture improves the energy efficiency of agricultural/livestock systems and/or reduces other environmental impacts measured through strong impact indicators (carbon footprint, water footprint, etc.). We are also interested in discussing the results from an economic and political point of view oriented to change.

Prof. Dr. David Pérez-Neira
Prof. Dr. Gabrijel Ondrasek
Prof. Dr. Marta Soler-Montiel
Dr. Xavier Simón Fernández
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

  • agroecology
  • organic agriculture
  • energy analysis
  • EROI
  • carbon footprint
  • LCA
  • agricultural policy
  • economic analysis
  • ecological economics

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 943 KiB  
Article
Views of Farmers and Other Agri-Food Stakeholders on Generic Skills for Transitioning toward Sustainable Food Systems
by Natalia Rastorgueva, Line Friis Lindner, Stine Rosenlund Hansen, Paola Migliorini, Christoph F. Knöbl and Katherine M. Flynn
Agronomy 2023, 13(2), 525; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13020525 - 11 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2355
Abstract
Sustainable agricultural education is a fundamental base for the sustainable development of the agri-food systems. Sustainable education should provide the necessary skills to the practical world. This paper is focused on skills and competences required by the agri-food stakeholders for their current work [...] Read more.
Sustainable agricultural education is a fundamental base for the sustainable development of the agri-food systems. Sustainable education should provide the necessary skills to the practical world. This paper is focused on skills and competences required by the agri-food stakeholders for their current work and for future sustainable development around the world. An online survey was disseminated for data collection, and quantitative and qualitative analyses were employed to understand the impact of the demographic factors on the variety of skills mentioned by the different stakeholders. As a result, according to all of the stakeholders, the skills of navigating in a changing world, networking and strategic development are relevant for their current work, and technical skills were mentioned as relevant for future sustainable development. The age factor, rather than geography and gender, was found to have a stronger impact on defining the aforementioned skills. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agroecology, Organic Agriculture and Energy Efficiency of Food Production)
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11 pages, 1547 KiB  
Article
Performance of Forage Cactus Intercropped with Arboreal Legumes and Fertilized with Different Manure Sources
by Felipe Martins Saraiva, José Carlos Batista Dubeux, Jr., Márcio Vieira da Cunha, Rômulo Simões Cezar Menezes, Mércia Virginia Ferreira dos Santos, Dayanne Camelo and Ivan Ferraz
Agronomy 2022, 12(8), 1887; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12081887 - 11 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2176
Abstract
The use of agricultural practices such as fertilization and intercropping can improve the production of forage cacti. The objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic characteristics of forage cactus intercropped with leguminous trees and fertilized with different sources of manure in [...] Read more.
The use of agricultural practices such as fertilization and intercropping can improve the production of forage cacti. The objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic characteristics of forage cactus intercropped with leguminous trees and fertilized with different sources of manure in the tropical semiarid region of Brazil. The research was carried out at the Agricultural and Livestock Research Enterprise of Pernambuco State during the period from March 2011 to September 2013. The following cultivation systems were used: (i) Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Kunth + forage cactus cv. IPA-Sertania [Opuntia cochenillifera (L.) Mill]; (ii) Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit + forage cactus; and (iii) forage cactus in monoculture. All of these systems were fertilized with different sources of manure (cattle, goat, sheep, and broiler litter). The goat and sheep manure (16.6 and 16.5 Mg DM ha−1 year−1) provided the least production of cactus in the different cropping systems. Cattle manure provided greater production of forage and wood from legumes (1.4 and 4.3 Mg DM ha−1 year−1) and cactus (20.9 Mg DM ha−1 year−1). Gliricidia produced more forage and wood than Leucaena. Total production of the forage cactus-Gliricidia system produced 4.7 and 3.8 Mg DM ha−1 of biomass and wood in two years, respectively. The production and morphological characteristics of the cactus increased at further distance from the trees (3 m), and the opposite effect was observed for the concentrations of N, p, and K. Thus, cropping systems using forage cactus and tree legumes fertilized with manure represent an option for tropical semiarid regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agroecology, Organic Agriculture and Energy Efficiency of Food Production)
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14 pages, 1385 KiB  
Article
Nitrogen Fertilization and Straw Management Economically Improve Wheat Yield and Energy Use Efficiency, Reduce Carbon Footprint
by Liuge Wu, Xin Zhang, Huan Chen, Daozhong Wang, Muhammad Mohsin Nawaz, Frederick Danso, Jian Chen, Aixing Deng, Zhenwei Song, Hizbullah Jamali, Chengyan Zheng and Weijian Zhang
Agronomy 2022, 12(4), 848; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12040848 - 30 Mar 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2897
Abstract
Fertilization is an effective agronomic management technique for increasing crop production. However, the overuse of chemical fertilizer stimulates energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which are antagonistic to sustainable wheat production. In this study, we estimated the energy and GHG performances of [...] Read more.
Fertilization is an effective agronomic management technique for increasing crop production. However, the overuse of chemical fertilizer stimulates energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which are antagonistic to sustainable wheat production. In this study, we estimated the energy and GHG performances of different fertilization regimes based on a 32−year fertilization experiment. In this long−term experiment, there are five treatments: CK (no fertilizer with wheat residue removal), NPK (chemical fertilizer with wheat residue removal), NPKPM (chemical fertilizer and pig manure with wheat residue removal), NPKCM (chemical fertilizer and cattle manure with wheat residue removal), and NPKWS (chemical fertilizer with wheat residue retention). The results indicated that NPKCM and NPKPM consumed higher total energy than NPK and NPKWS, which was attributed to the extra energy usage of farmyard manure. Although NPKCM and NPKPM increased energy output by 4.7 and 2.8%, NPKWS stood out by delivering the highest energy use efficiency (EUE) of 6.66, energy productivity of 0.26 kg MJ−1, energy profitability of 5.66, net return of 1799.82 US$ ha−1 and lower specific energy of 3.84 MJ kg−1. Moreover, the yield scale carbon footprint of NPKWS decreased by 66.7 and 52.3% compared with NPKCM and NPKPM, respectively. This study shows that the application of chemical fertilizer in combination with wheat residue retention is a good strategy to increase EUE and economic benefits while decreasing the carbon footprint of wheat production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agroecology, Organic Agriculture and Energy Efficiency of Food Production)
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20 pages, 1894 KiB  
Article
Carbon, Nitrogen and Water Footprints of Organic Rice and Conventional Rice Production over 4 Years of Cultivation: A Case Study in the Lower North of Thailand
by Noppol Arunrat, Sukanya Sereenonchai, Winai Chaowiwat, Can Wang and Ryusuke Hatano
Agronomy 2022, 12(2), 380; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12020380 - 3 Feb 2022
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 6284
Abstract
An integrated method is required for comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts and economic benefits of rice production systems. Therefore, the objective of this study was to apply different footprinting approaches (carbon footprint (CF), nitrogen footprint (NF), water footprint (WF)) and determine the [...] Read more.
An integrated method is required for comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts and economic benefits of rice production systems. Therefore, the objective of this study was to apply different footprinting approaches (carbon footprint (CF), nitrogen footprint (NF), water footprint (WF)) and determine the economic return on organic rice farming (OF) and conventional rice farming (CVF) at the farm scale. Over the 4-year study period (2018–2021), the results showed lower net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in OF (3289.1 kg CO2eq ha−1 year−1) than in CVF (4921.7 kg CO2eq ha−1 year−1), indicating that the use of OF can mitigate the GHG emissions from soil carbon sequestration. However, there was a higher CF intensity in OF (1.17 kg CO2eq kg−1 rice yield) than in CVF (0.93 kg CO2eq kg−1 rice yield) due to the lower yield. The NF intensities of OF and CVF were 0.34 and 11.94 kg Neq kg−1 rice yield, respectively. The total WF of CVF (1470.1 m3 ton−1) was higher than that in OF (1216.3 m3 ton−1). The gray water in CVF was significantly higher than that in OF due to the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Although the rice yield in OF was nearly two times lower than that in CVF, the economic return was higher due to lower production costs and higher rice prices. However, more field studies and long-term monitoring are needed for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agroecology, Organic Agriculture and Energy Efficiency of Food Production)
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Review

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13 pages, 2247 KiB  
Review
Review of Agricultural-Related Water Security in Water-Scarce Countries: Jordan Case Study
by Nabil Beithou, Ahmed Qandil, Mohammad Bani Khalid, Jelena Horvatinec and Gabrijel Ondrasek
Agronomy 2022, 12(7), 1643; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12071643 - 8 Jul 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3475
Abstract
Food security is an essential issue for human survival and civilization. Whenever food–water security is in doubt, the community is negatively affected. Globally, Jordan is the second most water-stressed country, located in an arid, politically divided and migratory active Middle East region that [...] Read more.
Food security is an essential issue for human survival and civilization. Whenever food–water security is in doubt, the community is negatively affected. Globally, Jordan is the second most water-stressed country, located in an arid, politically divided and migratory active Middle East region that lacks the access to valuable natural resources such as fertile soils. Jordan receives about 78 m3/person/year from renewable resources, which represents 1% of the world water share. Jordan’s Water Minister declared that a 50 million m3 lack of drinking water is to be faced next year; this shortage is added to the lack of irrigation water, which yields food insecurity and food price fluctuations that wear out the consumer. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the impact of agricultural cropping patterns and water security by analyzing the most relevant national databases. The study results will contribute to the development of national policy in order to strategize the aid programs and adaptation measures for more sustainable planning in the Jordanian agri-food sector. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agroecology, Organic Agriculture and Energy Efficiency of Food Production)
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