Frontier of Sustainable Agricultural Economics: Agrobiodiversity Conservation and Rural Governance

Dear Colleagues,

Investing in the preservation of agrobiodiversity is of crucial importance for the economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. Such a strategy involves species and ecosystem services on which agriculture, the food sector, and rural areas are highly dependent, and its beneficial effects on the climate allow for high economic multipliers for other sectors as well. However, some agricultural practices are among the main causes of the decline of agrobiodiversity, so it is important to support and encourage the transition to sustainable practices. In this way it is possible to make productive sectors more resilient to climate change, environmental risk, and socio-economic crises, including the creation of new jobs in organic farming, rural tourism, and recreational activities.

To promote the long-term conservation of agrobiodiversity, the definition of intervention plans based on a robust assessment of the agrobiodiversity conservation status, the related conservation priorities, and specific payment schemes is crucial to ensure improvements in terms of the environment, food security, and farmers’ income. In particular, these plans should cover the following aspects: support for organic farming and agroecology; promotion of agricultural systems based on traditional species, varieties, and breeds; protection of landscape elements; support for precision agriculture; definition of new rules on animal welfare; cooperation and governance among firms that support agrobiodiversity; sustainable finance to mitigate the risks of agrobiodiversity; analysis of the impacts from agrobiodiversity loss on firm profitability; effects of funding on agrobiodiversity; tax and pricing systems capable of reflecting the environmental costs of the loss of agrobiodiversity (also through the “user pays” and “polluter pays” principles); rules on green public procurement for solutions based on agrobiodiversity; public and firm decision-making processes integrated with the agrobiodiversity dimension; measurement of the environmental footprint of processes and products through their life cycle and accounting practices for natural capital; partnerships between science, politics, and practice to promote strategies for the protection of agrobiodiversity; intergovernmental scientific policy platforms for agrobiodiversity and ecosystem services; cooperation on agrobiodiversity education.

Therefore, the goal of this Special Issue is to provide a solid scientific basis relating to the above aspects of the intervention plans. The papers will have to develop optimal solutions based on agrobiodiversity in favor of consumers, producers, firms, supply chains, districts, territories, authorities, and communities. This approach will favor the exchange of knowledge for the development of “green” solutions on different productive, territorial, and institutional scales to favor the transition towards a green economy capable of contrasting the loss of agrobiodiversity.

Dr. Piermichele La Sala
Dr. Elena Ciani
Dr. Marco Ragni
Dr. Ruggiero Sardaro
Guest Editors

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• organic farming
• genetic resources conservation actions
• genetic diversity assessment
• animal welfare
• traditional species
• landscape preservation
• precision agriculture
• firm cooperation and governance
• finance for risk mitigation
• firm profitability
• tax and pricing systems
• public and firm decision-making
• environmental footprint
• partnerships between science, politics, and practice
• intergovernmental policy platforms
• cooperation on education
• rural development
• climate change