A Series of Special Reviews and Topic Analyses That Explore Major Trends and Challenges in Agronomy

A topical collection in Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395).

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Editors

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Urrbrae, SA 5064, Australia
Interests: plant genomics; genetic engineering; cereal genetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University, Wagga 2678, Australia
Interests: metabolomics/bioinformatics; plant interactions including competition and allelopathy; herbicide discovery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Topical Collection Information

Dear Colleagues,

Crop production is facing major challenges due to increasingly variable weather patterns, a declining resource base associated with soil and water degradation, and recent economic and transport constraints resulting in pressure to reduce inputs.  However, agriculture has a long and successful history in the development and application of innovation in crop production, resulting in dramatic increases in productivity.  However, the timeframe from technological innovation to application can be slow, particularly for complex agriculture systems. Defining specific challenges, exploring relevant technological approaches, and mapping a path through to implementation is now critically important.

This collection welcomes in-depth reviews that explore major trends and challenges in Agronomy. Agronomy MDPI is keen to provide a forum for the research community to identify and describe major issues and constraints facing global crop production while moving forward to address the future. While background information is important when developing a review and should be included, we suggest a focus on the future with an opportunity to speculate, supported by science-based knowledge generated in the past.

Reviews will be assessed by the MDPI Agronomy Editorial Board and if accepted, published without charge to the authors.  Reviews will be generally invited but topical suggestions are always welcome.

In order to focus and maximise the impact of MDPI Agronomy special reviews, only four will be published each year (quarterly). As a guide, we suggest that the reviews may include the following:

  1. Definition of topic and issue
    a. Why is this topic important and expected to change over the next few years?
  2. Status of research – review of the science behind the topic and recent advances
  3. Why is the current situation of importance and what is the likely future impact?
    Overview of "games changes" such as:
    a. Technological advances (for example, new imaging technologies, artificial intelligence)
    b. Environmental changes (for example, impact of increasing climate variability, changes in farming practices such as reduced tillage)
    c. Sociological, regulatory or policy changes (for example, restricted use of fertilizers or pesticides, community acceptance of technologies)
  4. Scientific advancement required to address such challenges
  5. Outcomes likely over the short, medium or long term

Prof. Dr. Peter Langridge
Prof. Dr. Leslie A. Weston
Dr. Ilias Travlos
Collection 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 collection 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.

Published Papers (2 papers)

2023

Jump to: 2022

53 pages, 3854 KiB  
Review
Can Yield Prediction Be Fully Digitilized? A Systematic Review
by Nicoleta Darra, Evangelos Anastasiou, Olga Kriezi, Erato Lazarou, Dionissios Kalivas and Spyros Fountas
Agronomy 2023, 13(9), 2441; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13092441 - 21 Sep 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1790
Abstract
Going beyond previous work, this paper presents a systematic literature review that explores the deployment of satellites, drones, and ground-based sensors for yield prediction in agriculture. It covers multiple aspects of the topic, including crop types, key sensor platforms, data analysis techniques, and [...] Read more.
Going beyond previous work, this paper presents a systematic literature review that explores the deployment of satellites, drones, and ground-based sensors for yield prediction in agriculture. It covers multiple aspects of the topic, including crop types, key sensor platforms, data analysis techniques, and performance in estimating yield. To this end, datasets from Scopus and Web of Science were analyzed, resulting in the full review of 269 out of 1429 retrieved publications. Our study revealed that China (93 articles, >1800 citations) and the USA (58 articles, >1600 citations) are prominent contributors in this field; while satellites were the primary remote sensing platform (62%), followed by airborne (30%) and proximal sensors (27%). Additionally, statistical methods were used in 157 articles, and model-based approaches were utilized in 60 articles, while machine learning and deep learning were employed in 142 articles and 62 articles, respectively. When comparing methods, machine learning and deep learning methods exhibited high accuracy in crop yield prediction, while other techniques also demonstrated success, contingent on the specific crop platform and method employed. The findings of this study serve as a comprehensive roadmap for researchers and farmers, enabling them to make data-driven decisions and optimize agricultural practices, paving the way towards a fully digitized yield prediction. Full article
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2022

Jump to: 2023

17 pages, 37043 KiB  
Review
Meeting the Challenges Facing Wheat Production: The Strategic Research Agenda of the Global Wheat Initiative
by Peter Langridge, Michael Alaux, Nuno Felipe Almeida, Karim Ammar, Michael Baum, Faouzi Bekkaoui, Alison R. Bentley, Brian L. Beres, Bettina Berger, Hans-Joachim Braun, Gina Brown-Guedira, Christopher James Burt, Mario Jose Caccamo, Luigi Cattivelli, Gilles Charmet, Peter Civáň, Sylvie Cloutier, Jean-Pierre Cohan, Pierre J. Devaux, Fiona M. Doohan, M. Fernanda Dreccer, Moha Ferrahi, Silvia E. Germán, Stephen B. Goodwin, Simon Griffiths, Carlos Guzmán, Hirokazu Handa, Malcolm John Hawkesford, Zhonghu He, Eric Huttner, Tatsuya M. Ikeda, Benjamin Kilian, Ian Philip King, Julie King, John A. Kirkegaard, Jacob Lage, Jacques Le Gouis, Suchismita Mondal, Ewen Mullins, Frank Ordon, Jose Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio, Hakan Özkan, İrfan Öztürk, Silvia A. Pereyra, Curtis J. Pozniak, Hadi Quesneville, Martín C. Quincke, Greg John Rebetzke, Jochen Christoph Reif, Teresa Saavedra-Bravo, Ulrich Schurr, Shivali Sharma, Sanjay Kumar Singh, Ravi P. Singh, John W. Snape, Wuletaw Tadesse, Hisashi Tsujimoto, Roberto Tuberosa, Tim G. Willis and Xueyong Zhangadd Show full author list remove Hide full author list
Agronomy 2022, 12(11), 2767; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12112767 - 07 Nov 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 7112
Abstract
Wheat occupies a special role in global food security since, in addition to providing 20% of our carbohydrates and protein, almost 25% of the global production is traded internationally. The importance of wheat for food security was recognised by the Chief Agricultural Scientists [...] Read more.
Wheat occupies a special role in global food security since, in addition to providing 20% of our carbohydrates and protein, almost 25% of the global production is traded internationally. The importance of wheat for food security was recognised by the Chief Agricultural Scientists of the G20 group of countries when they endorsed the establishment of the Wheat Initiative in 2011. The Wheat Initiative was tasked with supporting the wheat research community by facilitating collaboration, information and resource sharing and helping to build the capacity to address challenges facing production in an increasingly variable environment. Many countries invest in wheat research. Innovations in wheat breeding and agronomy have delivered enormous gains over the past few decades, with the average global yield increasing from just over 1 tonne per hectare in the early 1960s to around 3.5 tonnes in the past decade. These gains are threatened by climate change, the rapidly rising financial and environmental costs of fertilizer, and pesticides, combined with declines in water availability for irrigation in many regions. The international wheat research community has worked to identify major opportunities to help ensure that global wheat production can meet demand. The outcomes of these discussions are presented in this paper. Full article
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