About this Research Topic
Conservation agriculture (CA) is a management approach for agroecosystems that aims to improve and sustain productivity, increase profits and food security while protecting and improving the environment. CA can protect arable lands while regenerating degraded lands.
CA has three key interconnected principles: (i) no or minimum soil tillage, (ii) permanent soil cover with crop residue, and (iii) diversifying crop rotations.
Intensive agriculture practices have resulted in serious problems like declining use efficiency of water, nutrients, energy, labor, and pesticides; deteriorating soil health; declining crop yields and farm income, and air and groundwater pollution. In contrast, CA is a comprehensive, resource-efficient, and climate-resilient crop and soil management strategy that has the potential to increase productivity and profitability, improve soil health, and minimize severe climatic effects.
CA has been reported to support at least five Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, and climate action. CA is widely supported by national and international organizations for addressing the problems associated with intensive agriculture. CA adoption is progressively rising in the world's tropics, subtropics, and temperate regions, in both rainfed and irrigated ecologies. CA is also recognized for its strong potential to restore production and agricultural revenue in degraded agroecosystems.
The objective of this Research Topic is to investigate the effect of CA on soil health, mitigation of greenhouse gases emission, pest dynamics, biodiversity, and sustainable production, and nutritional security. Several areas of research are indispensable to making CA a technically feasible, scientifically and environmentally sound, socially acceptable, and economically viable production system. These areas of research will contribute to strengthening the link between science, researchers, and stakeholders (farmers), and support increased food, nutrition, and environmental security.
This Research Topic welcomes original research articles, reviews, mini-reviews, and policy papers that address the following topics, but are not limited to:
• CA-based crops and cropping systems for higher productivity, profitability, and resource use efficiency (water, nutrients, and energy).
• Soil health under CA.
• Biotic and abiotic stress management in CA.
• CA practices for the adoption and mitigation of climate change.
• Climate-resilient conservation technologies for sustainable global food and nutritional security.
• CA effects on above- and below-ground biological processes and biodiversity.
• Pest dynamics (weeds, nematodes, insects, and diseases) and their management options for CA.
CA has three key interconnected principles: (i) no or minimum soil tillage, (ii) permanent soil cover with crop residue, and (iii) diversifying crop rotations.
Intensive agriculture practices have resulted in serious problems like declining use efficiency of water, nutrients, energy, labor, and pesticides; deteriorating soil health; declining crop yields and farm income, and air and groundwater pollution. In contrast, CA is a comprehensive, resource-efficient, and climate-resilient crop and soil management strategy that has the potential to increase productivity and profitability, improve soil health, and minimize severe climatic effects.
CA has been reported to support at least five Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, and climate action. CA is widely supported by national and international organizations for addressing the problems associated with intensive agriculture. CA adoption is progressively rising in the world's tropics, subtropics, and temperate regions, in both rainfed and irrigated ecologies. CA is also recognized for its strong potential to restore production and agricultural revenue in degraded agroecosystems.
The objective of this Research Topic is to investigate the effect of CA on soil health, mitigation of greenhouse gases emission, pest dynamics, biodiversity, and sustainable production, and nutritional security. Several areas of research are indispensable to making CA a technically feasible, scientifically and environmentally sound, socially acceptable, and economically viable production system. These areas of research will contribute to strengthening the link between science, researchers, and stakeholders (farmers), and support increased food, nutrition, and environmental security.
This Research Topic welcomes original research articles, reviews, mini-reviews, and policy papers that address the following topics, but are not limited to:
• CA-based crops and cropping systems for higher productivity, profitability, and resource use efficiency (water, nutrients, and energy).
• Soil health under CA.
• Biotic and abiotic stress management in CA.
• CA practices for the adoption and mitigation of climate change.
• Climate-resilient conservation technologies for sustainable global food and nutritional security.
• CA effects on above- and below-ground biological processes and biodiversity.
• Pest dynamics (weeds, nematodes, insects, and diseases) and their management options for CA.
Keywords: Conservation Agriculture, Biotic stresses, Crop residue, Plant diseases, Environment security, Productivity, Profitability, Soil Health, Weeds, Zero-tillage
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.
