As the population and economy grow, the amount of arable land available to meet the increasing diversified demand across geographic regions is declining, leading to the intensification of land use and the use of marginal lands. Urgent action is needed to ensure that current material needs do not lead to the over-extraction of resources or degradation of environmental resources, and should include policies that improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and streamline sustainability practices across all sectors of the economy.
There is a challenge to sustain economic growth, and conserve biological diversity and ecological integrity. Decoupling environmental degradation from economic growth, for example, requires the scaling up of existing sustainable practices and transition in the ways in which people produce, consume, and dispose of goods and materials throughout society. Recently, considerable progress and reorientation have been made to address the management protocols of ecological functions and assess ecological parameters by using decision-support systems to understand their potential effects and to harness the maximum benefits in agriculture and forestry production systems. However, similar challenges exist where crop management policies have created unintended negative environmental impacts through the emission of greenhouse gases, which also warrants adaptation-led mitigation strategies.
New ideas, such as the provision of different interventions for the management of natural resources, input management, microbial integrity for plant fitness, ecology-mediated restoration and climate-sensitive agricultural practices (based on existing infrastructure), as well as new possibilities towards the development of an integrated biophysical and socio-economic approach, are now being applied. This has led to the emerging and growing tendency to switch over to adaptive farming management practices due to the changing availability of resources. Adaptive farm management is thus becoming a viable alternative for broader applications addressing nutrient imbalances, managing problem soils and soil erosion, and optimizing soil-water use. Further, growers’ participatory research is becoming an integral approach by building a functional linkage between science and locally relevant solutions for enhanced adaptation. Although adaptability is a key component of resilience, farmers have varying adaptive capacity with one of the major issues being a lack of funds, making it especially difficult for small-scale farmers. Understanding these complexities is a precursor to the healthy functioning of a habitable Earth as it allows us to consider the repercussions of our actions.
This Research Topic will focus on the creation and maintenance of sustainable resources in agroecosystems through collaborations with farmers, managers, scientists, and other stakeholders. An up-to-date state of scientific knowledge on adaptive management from theory to practices will sensitize interdisciplinary subjects including agricultural and natural sciences, geography, microbiology, computer science, social science, extension education, etc. This Research Topic aims to identify a holistic and systematic approach that utilizes natural resources to secure sustainable environmental, economic, and social benefits for adaptive management, by restoring a firm relationship between land, water, and plants, in ways that mimic nature.
Submissions may address any of the following:
• Digital interventions for the management of natural resources;
• Site-specific input management;
• Resource conservation technologies;
• Microbial integrity for plant fitness;
• Traditional ecological and crop improvement knowledge;
• Soil contamination management knowledge;
• Sustainable food production systems;
• Climate sensitive agricultural practices;
• Technology transfer and plant protection knowledge.
As the population and economy grow, the amount of arable land available to meet the increasing diversified demand across geographic regions is declining, leading to the intensification of land use and the use of marginal lands. Urgent action is needed to ensure that current material needs do not lead to the over-extraction of resources or degradation of environmental resources, and should include policies that improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and streamline sustainability practices across all sectors of the economy.
There is a challenge to sustain economic growth, and conserve biological diversity and ecological integrity. Decoupling environmental degradation from economic growth, for example, requires the scaling up of existing sustainable practices and transition in the ways in which people produce, consume, and dispose of goods and materials throughout society. Recently, considerable progress and reorientation have been made to address the management protocols of ecological functions and assess ecological parameters by using decision-support systems to understand their potential effects and to harness the maximum benefits in agriculture and forestry production systems. However, similar challenges exist where crop management policies have created unintended negative environmental impacts through the emission of greenhouse gases, which also warrants adaptation-led mitigation strategies.
New ideas, such as the provision of different interventions for the management of natural resources, input management, microbial integrity for plant fitness, ecology-mediated restoration and climate-sensitive agricultural practices (based on existing infrastructure), as well as new possibilities towards the development of an integrated biophysical and socio-economic approach, are now being applied. This has led to the emerging and growing tendency to switch over to adaptive farming management practices due to the changing availability of resources. Adaptive farm management is thus becoming a viable alternative for broader applications addressing nutrient imbalances, managing problem soils and soil erosion, and optimizing soil-water use. Further, growers’ participatory research is becoming an integral approach by building a functional linkage between science and locally relevant solutions for enhanced adaptation. Although adaptability is a key component of resilience, farmers have varying adaptive capacity with one of the major issues being a lack of funds, making it especially difficult for small-scale farmers. Understanding these complexities is a precursor to the healthy functioning of a habitable Earth as it allows us to consider the repercussions of our actions.
This Research Topic will focus on the creation and maintenance of sustainable resources in agroecosystems through collaborations with farmers, managers, scientists, and other stakeholders. An up-to-date state of scientific knowledge on adaptive management from theory to practices will sensitize interdisciplinary subjects including agricultural and natural sciences, geography, microbiology, computer science, social science, extension education, etc. This Research Topic aims to identify a holistic and systematic approach that utilizes natural resources to secure sustainable environmental, economic, and social benefits for adaptive management, by restoring a firm relationship between land, water, and plants, in ways that mimic nature.
Submissions may address any of the following:
• Digital interventions for the management of natural resources;
• Site-specific input management;
• Resource conservation technologies;
• Microbial integrity for plant fitness;
• Traditional ecological and crop improvement knowledge;
• Soil contamination management knowledge;
• Sustainable food production systems;
• Climate sensitive agricultural practices;
• Technology transfer and plant protection knowledge.
