In the last two decades four main dimensions have been identified as the pillars of food security and nutrition, these are 1. food availability (the 'supply side'), the physical availability of sufficient quantities of food of appropriate quality, determined by the levels of domestic food production, stocks, imports and trade; 2. food access (the ‘economic side’), mostly dependent on household incomes and prices of goods; 3. food utilization, utilization of food through adequate diet, clean water, sanitation and health care to reach a state of nutritional well-being where all physiological needs are met; and 4. the stability of the other three dimensions over time, i.e. access to adequate food at all times and not on a periodic basis because of adverse climate conditions, protracted political crises, or economic instability which can all have an impact on food security and subsequently deteriorate nutritional status of individuals.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), after decades of steady decline, the global prevalence of undernourishment reverted in 2015, remaining unchanged in 2016-2018 at around 11%. As a result, in 2018 more than 820 million people in the world were still experiencing malnourishment.
In addition, the estimated potential crop yield losses caused by plant pathogens is up to 16% globally. In particular, at a global scale, crop yield losses due to pests and diseases ranging from 20% to 40% have been identified in rice, wheat, barley, maize, potatoes, soybeans, cotton and coffee in different countries and regions. Therefore, research should aim at investigating how to increase food production and quality in a sustainable way, focusing on novel approaches to control plant diseases and mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change on crop yield and food safety.
In this context, this Research Topic will focus on recent advances in the field of food availability, the ‘supply side’ of food security, specifically pertaining to the sustainable production of adequate amounts of quality food crops, through the control of plant diseases and crop contaminations. This Research Topic is aimed at all researchers and scholars involved in the fields of plant, food, nutrition and environmental sciences following multi/trans/interdisciplinary approaches.
This Research Topic therefore welcomes Original Research and Review articles exploring but not limited to the following areas:
• Sustainable food crop production (sustainable use of pesticides and low chemical inputs in agriculture systems)
• Impact of global climate change in relation to crop production and protection
• Novel approaches to food crop disease management for food security
• Food crop contaminants and crop quality (pesticide residues, and mycotoxins)
• Precision agriculture approaches in crop protection
Estefanía Carrillo will start working from 1st July 2020 as “Responsible for varietal development” of edible mushrooms at the private company Sylvan-Somycel (Langeais, France). Sylvan Inc., is a global leader in fungal technology and the world’s largest producer and distributor of mushroom spawn. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.
In the last two decades four main dimensions have been identified as the pillars of food security and nutrition, these are 1. food availability (the 'supply side'), the physical availability of sufficient quantities of food of appropriate quality, determined by the levels of domestic food production, stocks, imports and trade; 2. food access (the ‘economic side’), mostly dependent on household incomes and prices of goods; 3. food utilization, utilization of food through adequate diet, clean water, sanitation and health care to reach a state of nutritional well-being where all physiological needs are met; and 4. the stability of the other three dimensions over time, i.e. access to adequate food at all times and not on a periodic basis because of adverse climate conditions, protracted political crises, or economic instability which can all have an impact on food security and subsequently deteriorate nutritional status of individuals.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), after decades of steady decline, the global prevalence of undernourishment reverted in 2015, remaining unchanged in 2016-2018 at around 11%. As a result, in 2018 more than 820 million people in the world were still experiencing malnourishment.
In addition, the estimated potential crop yield losses caused by plant pathogens is up to 16% globally. In particular, at a global scale, crop yield losses due to pests and diseases ranging from 20% to 40% have been identified in rice, wheat, barley, maize, potatoes, soybeans, cotton and coffee in different countries and regions. Therefore, research should aim at investigating how to increase food production and quality in a sustainable way, focusing on novel approaches to control plant diseases and mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change on crop yield and food safety.
In this context, this Research Topic will focus on recent advances in the field of food availability, the ‘supply side’ of food security, specifically pertaining to the sustainable production of adequate amounts of quality food crops, through the control of plant diseases and crop contaminations. This Research Topic is aimed at all researchers and scholars involved in the fields of plant, food, nutrition and environmental sciences following multi/trans/interdisciplinary approaches.
This Research Topic therefore welcomes Original Research and Review articles exploring but not limited to the following areas:
• Sustainable food crop production (sustainable use of pesticides and low chemical inputs in agriculture systems)
• Impact of global climate change in relation to crop production and protection
• Novel approaches to food crop disease management for food security
• Food crop contaminants and crop quality (pesticide residues, and mycotoxins)
• Precision agriculture approaches in crop protection
Estefanía Carrillo will start working from 1st July 2020 as “Responsible for varietal development” of edible mushrooms at the private company Sylvan-Somycel (Langeais, France). Sylvan Inc., is a global leader in fungal technology and the world’s largest producer and distributor of mushroom spawn. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.
