Upcycling Organic Waste for the Sustainable Management of Soilborne Pests and Pathogens in Agri-Food Systems

Agricultural and food supply systems face the challenge of meeting the delicate balance between supplying the increasing demand for food, whilst also minimizing their environmental impact. One of the main areas for improvement in this area is upcycling organic wastes (e.g. almond hulls, tomato pomace) or low-value products (e.g. compost, digestates) produced by these systems that would otherwise be likely to end up in landfill, further contributing to rising greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the phasing out of methyl bromide as a soil fumigant, local regulations limiting the use of chemical fumigants, as well as growing health concerns and increasing consumer demand for sustainable food products, creates a unique opportunity for the development of more sustainable agricultural practices employing the use of by-products of the agri-food industry for the management of soilborne pests and pathogens. Soil biofumigation, biosolarization, and anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) are practices that can turn organic by-products into substitutes for chemical fumigants, promote soil suppressiveness and improve soil health, thereby changing the paradigm from “waste” to “valuable resource”.

Given the need to upcycle organic waste and to find sustainable alternatives to chemical fumigation, we aim to compile new data that would shed some light on understanding the main mechanisms of action involved in waste amendment-based approaches for the management of soilborne pests and pathogens. The goal is also to understand what organic by-products are available, if they are suitable and how they manage soilborne pests and pathogens in different scenarios in the short (control) and long-term (suppressiveness). This knowledge will serve to improve farming practices to manage different pests and pathogens, in different crops and under different climate and environmental conditions. Furthermore, these practices will be also a tool to divert organic wastes from landfill to the soil where they can provide useful eco-systemic services, including soil pathogen-suppressiveness and carbon sequestration.

This Research Topic is looking for high-quality Original Research articles and Reviews that can promote the application of sustainable alternatives to chemical fumigation, using organic by-products or low-value products generated from different agri-food systems. In particular, we encourage research articles that would provide novel inputs, but not limited to:
• Best organic substrates to manage pests, pathogens, and weeds (raw organic wastes, byproducts, compost, cover crops);
• Mechanisms involved in pathogen management (abiotic stresses, accumulation of biopesticides, microbial suppression);
• The role of microbial communities and microorganisms on pests and pathogens management and development of pathogen-suppressive soil;
• Impact on crop and soil health;
• Techno-economic and life cycle assessment studies.

Dr. Fernandez Bayo is a co-founder of the startup BioMilitus LLC. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.