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Agronomy
Special Issues
Circular Economy for a Sustainable Management of Resources in Agriculture
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Circular Economy for a Sustainable Management of Resources in Agriculture

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Farming Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 11345

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alfonso Exposito

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Guest Editor
Department of Applied Economics, University of Malaga (Spain), Ejido 6, 29013 Malaga, Spain
Interests: environmental and agricultural economics; circular economy; water resources management
Prof. Dr. Julio Berbel

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Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Cordoba. Campus Rabanales, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
Interests: agricultural and resource economics; water management; water policy; multicriteria decision theory; environmental policy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Javier Martínez Dalmau

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Cordoba. Campus Rabanales, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
Interests: circular economy; agricultural resources management; sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agriculture is a key sector of the global economy as a provider of food and bioresources to different economic sectors. In the past few decades, the agricultural sector has become more resource intensive, heavily relying on fossil inputs such as synthetic fertilisers, agrochemicals and fossil fuels. This production process is based on the extraction and processing of natural resources with waste generation, thus causing a variety of negative effects that compromise the health and survival of humanity. Among these effects, the loss of biodiversity, the pollution of water, soil and air, the depletion of water reserves and the acceleration of global warming are worth noting. In this context, agriculture plays a central role in the transition of our economic system towards a more sustainable and circular economy.

The importance of the circular economy (CE) principles lies in the fact that they attempt to replace the linear production-consumption process based on "produce, use and dispose" with a circular process based on "reduce, reuse and recycle". In summary, this circularity is based on the principle of "closing the life cycle" of resources so that the necessary goods and services are produced, while reducing the consumption and waste of energy, water and raw materials, and therefore contributing to more sustainable production–consumption processes. Therefore, in this issue focused on the CE applied to resources management in the agricultural sector, we welcome research papers and review articles covering all related topics, including the development of innovative CE initiatives, circularity assessment tools related to production–consumption processes, socio-economic impact evaluation at different scales (local–region–global), and reviews of CE theoretical approaches and case studies in the agro-food sector, among others.

Prof. Dr. Alfonso Expósito
Prof. Dr. Julio Berbel
Dr. Javier Martínez Dalmau
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • circular economy
  • production-consumption process
  • sustainability
  • agro-food sector
  • life cycle

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2315 KiB  
Article
Socioeconomic Impact of Climate Change in Rural Areas of Greece Using a Multicriteria Decision-Making Model
by Ioannis Georgilas, Christina Moulogianni, Thomas Bournaris, George Vlontzos and Basil Manos
Agronomy 2021, 11(9), 1779; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11091779 - 04 Sep 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2400
Abstract
Agriculture is the main and, in some cases, the only, source of income and employment in rural areas. The change in the conditions under which agriculture is practiced has various effects on the agricultural economy but also on the social structure of rural [...] Read more.
Agriculture is the main and, in some cases, the only, source of income and employment in rural areas. The change in the conditions under which agriculture is practiced has various effects on the agricultural economy but also on the social structure of rural areas. Climate change has multiple effects on agricultural production, necessitating the reorganization of agricultural production in some cases. These effects of climate change will also impact the economic and social aspects of farms in rural areas. This paper attempts to identify these effects by measuring the socioeconomic impacts of climate change in the region of Central Macedonia in Greece. For this reason, a multicriteria model was developed to simulate these impacts by estimating a set of seven social and economic indicators. The model was implemented to the average farm which was estimated from the main cultivations of the region. A scenario analysis was also used in combination with the multicriteria model. The multicriteria model suggests modifications are needed in the average farm crop plan of the region as a result of the climate change impact. The scenarios results show that climate change will negatively affect all the social and economic indicators and will continue to affect them over the years. These results can be used by policymakers to understand the economic and social impacts of climate change in the region to plan their future policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy for a Sustainable Management of Resources in Agriculture)
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16 pages, 1706 KiB  
Article
A Simple Agro-Economic Model for Optimal Farm Nitrogen Application under Yield Uncertainty
by Julio Berbel and Javier Martínez-Dalmau
Agronomy 2021, 11(6), 1107; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11061107 - 29 May 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2725
Abstract
Farmers in the developed world tend to over-apply fertilizer, and we explore a model for decision-making under uncertainty in yields. This article proposes an agro-economic model for farmer decision-making based on subjective expected yield and crop response to fertilization. The model explores subjective [...] Read more.
Farmers in the developed world tend to over-apply fertilizer, and we explore a model for decision-making under uncertainty in yields. This article proposes an agro-economic model for farmer decision-making based on subjective expected yield and crop response to fertilization. The model explores subjective yield probability distributions that are both better suited to subjective crop yields than the previously proposed probability distribution and is easier to extract from farmers. The model allows the analysis of the impact of changes in fertilizer price and variance of expected yields. The model result is consistent with observed farmer behavior based on the rule of “fertilizing for the good years” that appears, according to our model, as rational and consistent with expected profit maximization under yield uncertainty since the cost of over-application is lower than that of the opportunity cost of under-application. The goal of increasing the efficiency of nitrogen use requires both technical innovation and an expansion of the knowledge on the socioeconomic factors underlying excessive crop fertilization that must be improved both to meet future food demands and to prevent environmental degradation and climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy for a Sustainable Management of Resources in Agriculture)
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Review

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17 pages, 1648 KiB  
Review
Bio-Based Value Chains Potential in the Management of Cacao Pod Waste in Colombia, a Case Study
by Diana C. Meza-Sepúlveda, Ana M. Castro, Annie Zamora, Jorge W. Arboleda, Adriana M. Gallego and Anyela V. Camargo-Rodríguez
Agronomy 2021, 11(4), 693; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11040693 - 05 Apr 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4687
Abstract
Agriculture generates 11.4 billion tons of biomass worldwide, including residues from crop production and industrial processing. Improper disposal of agricultural residues results in environmental pollution and the waste of valuable biomass resources. Management of agricultural waste is particularly suboptimal in developing countries where [...] Read more.
Agriculture generates 11.4 billion tons of biomass worldwide, including residues from crop production and industrial processing. Improper disposal of agricultural residues results in environmental pollution and the waste of valuable biomass resources. Management of agricultural waste is particularly suboptimal in developing countries where low added-value traditional practices to manage the residues are commonplace. A bioeconomy approach to better manage agricultural waste is to use renewable biological resources from land and sea to produce new materials and energy, allowing the development of bio-based value chains (BBVC). This study explored the potential of BBVC in the management of cacao pod husk (CPH), the primary residual biomass generated from the production of cacao in Colombia. Thus, a literature review on cacao pod husk (CPH) management strategies and a survey for farmers from Caldas State in Colombia between August and November of 2020 were performed to identify the potentials and limitations of BBVC in the management of CPH. Assessment of CPH management strategies suggested variable uses for CPH categorized in energy, food, and miscellaneous. Analysis of surveys indicated farmers are keen to implement strategies to better manage their agricultural waste, but that information is not available to them. Finally, an approach to develop a BBVC from cacao was proposed, which we plan to implement as a future research direction. We expect to impact the economic growth positively in the region with bio-based products in the market. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy for a Sustainable Management of Resources in Agriculture)
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