Sustainable Solutions for Agricultural Land Degradation and Recovery

The quality of agricultural land is a critical resource ensuring the sustainability of farming systems and global food security. Currently, agricultural lands are facing mounting pressures such as declining organic matter, the proliferation of weeds, chemical residues, and contamination from industrial activities. The FAO reported that approximately 52% of arable land is degrading, a figure projected to rise if no action is taken. These challenges are exacerbated by climate change, population growth, and unsustainable farming practices, which threatens the productivity and resilience of agricultural systems. For instance, intensive monoculture farming and over-reliance on chemical inputs have depleted soil nutrients, and mineral mining has continued to introduce heavy metals to the arable land. In developing regions, limited access to resources, including advanced agricultural technologies, further compounds these issues. Without significant intervention, degraded agricultural land (DAL) could undermine global efforts to achieve food security and environmental sustainability by 2050, when the global population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion.

This Research Topic aims to address these critical issues through the exploration of innovative, cross-disciplinary approaches that integrate advances in technology, social sciences, and ecological research. The focus will be on sustainable methodologies for the restoration of degraded agricultural land (DAL), including the adoption of precision agricultural technologies, participatory approaches for local community involvement in restoration activities, and ecosystem services evaluation of DAL. By doing so, it seeks to enhance the resilience and productivity of agricultural systems and unlock their potential for sustainable development.

To gather further insights in the realm of DAL improvement, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• A comprehensive overview of recent advancements in DAL (including the definition, categories, or area estimation of DAL)

• New findings on innovative practices and technologies to restore DAL

• Sustainable land management to restore or improve land quality (e.g., biomass waste to improve soil quality)

• Potential solutions for the restoration of DAL under different climate change scenarios

• Ecological and economic evaluation of restored agricultural land

• Policy recommendations for improving DAL restoring effectiveness

Articles in the form of original research articles, review articles, methodological papers, perspectives, opinions, commentary pieces, case reports, and policy and practice reviews are welcomed for submission.

Keywords: Agricultural land quality, Degraded agricultural land (DAL), Sustainability, Global food security, Soil degradation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.