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Sustainable Agrifood Technologies
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Sustainable Agrifood Technologies

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 17066

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Antonio Ruiz-Canales

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Agri-Food and Agro-Environmental Research and Innovation (CIAGRO), Miguel Hernández University of Elche, 03312 Orihuela, Spain
Interests: electronic nose; sensors for agrifood applications, disease detection using electronic nose, sensor platform
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Manuel Ferrández-Villena

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering of Orihuela, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, SpainCarretera de Beniel, 03312 Orihuela (Alicante), Spain
Interests: building materials; structures; development of building materials based on plant residue; automation and remote control in irrigation systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Several events related to sustainability and related applications have been developing all over the world during the last year. One of the specific events that has been celebrated for this purpose was the first university conference on agrifood innovation and sustainability (I Congreso Universitario en Innovación y Sostenibilidad Agroalimentaria, CUISA) (https://cuisa.edu.umh.es). This last event was celebrated at the Polytechnic School of Orihuela (EPSO), from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (Spain), between 24th and 25th September, 2020. The next edition will be celebrated on the 16th and 17th September, 2021. Additionally, for agrifood innovation and sustainability, the main objective of this event was promoting the interchange of knowledge between students and young researchers. In this congress, 104 participants were registered and 73 communications were presented, 54 of them orally and 19 as posters, by young researchers undertaking master's and doctoral studies, or recent doctorates. Most of the participants in this congress were Spanish, although participants from countries such as Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and China should also be highlighted. The communications that were presented included different aspects of agricultural and livestock production, from genetic resources and the most numerous production techniques, to the use of byproducts and the economy of agrifood companies, always from the point of view of the environment and with special emphasis on the production of goods of excellent quality and with benefits for the health of consumers. The scope of this Special Issue, Sustainable Agrifood Technologies, is based on these 12 generic topics:

1. Improvement and biotechnology in plant production.

2. Horticulture, citrus, fruit growing, viticulture and crop protection.

3. Sustainable agriculture, climate change and environmental stresses.

4. Production, welfare and quality in animal production.

5. Industrial and agricultural facilities.

6. Water, nutrition and energy management in horticulture.

7. The uses of territory, the valuation of agricultural resources and rural development.

8. Agricultural economics and business management.

9. The management and recovery of organic waste in agriculture.

10. Processing and innovation for products of animal origin.

11. The postharvest and processing of vegetable products.

12. Functional nutrition, sensory quality and health.

Prof. Dr. Antonio Ruiz-Canales
Prof. Dr. Manuel Ferrández-Villena
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • Agromotics
  • Energy efficiency in agriculture
  • Water efficiency in agriculture
  • Adaptation and resilience to global change in agriculture
  • Environmental sustainability in agriculture
  • Economical sustainability in agriculture
  • Social sustainability in agriculture
  • Renewable energy self-sufficiency in agriculture
  • The valorization of vegetable wastes
  • Sustainable vegetable production
  • Sustainable animal production
  • Sustainable systems in agriculture
  • Sustainable innovative products
  • Sustainable postharvest
  • Sustainable food

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 2121 KiB  
Article
Towards Sustainable Agriculture in China: Assessing the Robust Role of Green Public Investment
by Xincai Gao, Lin Ji, Abbas Ali Chandio, Amber Gul, Martinson Ankrah Twumasi and Fayyaz Ahmad
Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3613; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063613 - 18 Mar 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1975
Abstract
This paper reviews the long-term impact of public investments on irrigation and agricultural research and development along with other control variables, including physical capital, irrigated area, fertilizer consumption, level of mechanization, and CO2 emissions on China’s agricultural output from 1986 to 2017. [...] Read more.
This paper reviews the long-term impact of public investments on irrigation and agricultural research and development along with other control variables, including physical capital, irrigated area, fertilizer consumption, level of mechanization, and CO2 emissions on China’s agricultural output from 1986 to 2017. This study applied various econometric methods such as the ARDL bound-testing approach and Johansen co-integration procedure to determine the long-term co-integrating connection amid the variables. The empirical outcomes from the ARDL bound-testing method confirm a long-term co-integrating connection among the variables. The long-run results demonstrated that public investment in agricultural research and development and irrigation have a substantial positive effect on agricultural productivity. Furthermore, results revealed that physical capital and fertilizer consumption also have a significant positive effect on agricultural output; however, CO2 emissions have a substantial negative effect on agricultural production. These findings therefore suggest that the policy makers of China should initiate more effective policies to increase irrigation and agricultural research and development investments. Increasing irrigation and agricultural research and development investments will enhance agricultural productivity by ensuring food security in the country. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agrifood Technologies)
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13 pages, 769 KiB  
Article
Fresh-Cut Salads: Consumer Acceptance and Quality Parameter Evolution during Storage in Domestic Refrigerators
by José M. Lorente-Mento, Juan M. Valverde, María Serrano and María T. Pretel
Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3473; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063473 - 16 Mar 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2109
Abstract
Ready-to-eat fresh-cut salads (RTESs) are fresh-cut vegetables that have been minimally processed and remain alive until consumption. A survey with 297 respondents was performed, showing that most respondents consumed RTESs composed of various vegetables once or twice a week. The most important items [...] Read more.
Ready-to-eat fresh-cut salads (RTESs) are fresh-cut vegetables that have been minimally processed and remain alive until consumption. A survey with 297 respondents was performed, showing that most respondents consumed RTESs composed of various vegetables once or twice a week. The most important items for consumers’ RTESs purchasing intention were the expiration date and the absence of exudates and brown and dehydrated leaves, while after storage in domestic refrigerators, the most important item for consumption refusal was the presence of strange odours. On the other hand, among the non-consumers of RTESs, the most important reason for not buying this kind of produce was the use of plastic packaging. Microbiological analysis of RTESs (composed of corn salads, radicchio and escarole leaves) showed that moulds, yeasts and psychrophilic aerobic microflora remained unchanged from buying to the expiration date, while increases occurred in mesophilic aerobic microflora, although all of them were within safety levels for consumption even after 4 days of the expiration date. Finally, total phenolics and antioxidant activity were higher in corn salads followed by radicchio and escarole leaves, and generally, no significant changes occurred in the bioactive compounds of RTESs during storage in domestic refrigerators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agrifood Technologies)
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11 pages, 1466 KiB  
Article
A Data Fusion Model to Merge the Spectra Data of Intact and Powdered Cayenne Pepper for the Fast Inspection of Antioxidant Properties
by Kusumiyati Kusumiyati, Ine Elisa Putri, Agus Arip Munawar and Diding Suhandy
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 201; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010201 - 25 Dec 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3240
Abstract
Spectroscopy technology has been widely used for the quality assessment of agricultural products, but the models produced in recent studies usually focus on only one sample form. Meanwhile, most products, especially cayenne pepper, are not only in the form of fresh samples but [...] Read more.
Spectroscopy technology has been widely used for the quality assessment of agricultural products, but the models produced in recent studies usually focus on only one sample form. Meanwhile, most products, especially cayenne pepper, are not only in the form of fresh samples but also in powder. Therefore, the research used visible/near-infrared (Vis/NIR) spectroscopy to predict the antioxidant properties using a fusion model derived from both intact and powdered cayenne pepper. The parameters used to determine these properties include the %inhibition, antioxidant activity, and antioxidant capacity. The results showed that the fusion model at %inhibition was 0.90 (Rcal), 7.63 (RMSEC), 0.84 (Rpred), and 9.16 (RMSEP) while the antioxidant activity had 0.94, 181.82, 0.81 and 340.06, whereas antioxidant capacity produced 0.94, 14.42, 0.82 and 22.64 for Rcal, RMSEC, Rpred, and RMSEP, respectively. The Vis/NIR spectroscopy was able to predict the antioxidant properties in both the intact and powdered cayenne pepper using the fusion model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agrifood Technologies)
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11 pages, 1657 KiB  
Article
Non-Destructive Quality Measurement for Three Varieties of Tomato Using VIS/NIR Spectroscopy
by Khadija Najjar and Nawaf Abu-Khalaf
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10747; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910747 - 28 Sep 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2664
Abstract
The non-destructive visible/near-infrared (VIS/NIR) spectroscopy is a promising technique in determining the quality of agricultural commodities. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the ability of VIS/NIR spectroscopy (550–1100 nm) to distinguish between three different varieties of tomato (i.e., Ekram, Harver and Izmer), as [...] Read more.
The non-destructive visible/near-infrared (VIS/NIR) spectroscopy is a promising technique in determining the quality of agricultural commodities. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the ability of VIS/NIR spectroscopy (550–1100 nm) to distinguish between three different varieties of tomato (i.e., Ekram, Harver and Izmer), as well as to predict the quality parameters of tomato, such as soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), taste (SSC/TA) and firmness. Ninety intact samples from three tomato varieties were used. These samples were examined using VIS/NIR spectroscopy and quality parameters were also measured using traditional methods. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square (PLS) were carried out. The results of PCA showed the ability of VIS/NIR spectroscopy to distinguish between the three varieties, where two PCs explained about 99% of the total variance in both calibration and validation sets. Moreover, PLS showed the possibility of modelling quality parameters. The correlation coefficient (R2) and the ratio of performance deviation (RPD) for all quality parameters (except for firmness) were found to be higher than 0.85 and 2.5, respectively. Thus, these results indicate that the VIS/NIR spectroscopy can be used to discriminate between different varieties of tomato and predict their quality parameters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agrifood Technologies)
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Review

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20 pages, 1766 KiB  
Review
Agrivoltaics in Ontario Canada: Promise and Policy
by Joshua M. Pearce
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 3037; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053037 - 4 Mar 2022
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5862
Abstract
Well-intentioned regulations to protect Canada’s most productive farmland restrict large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) development. The recent innovation of agrivoltaics, which is the co-development of land for both PV and agriculture, makes these regulations obsolete. Burgeoning agrivoltaics research has shown agricultural benefits, including increased [...] Read more.
Well-intentioned regulations to protect Canada’s most productive farmland restrict large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) development. The recent innovation of agrivoltaics, which is the co-development of land for both PV and agriculture, makes these regulations obsolete. Burgeoning agrivoltaics research has shown agricultural benefits, including increased yield for a wide range of crops, plant protection from excess solar energy and hail, and improved water conservation, while maintaining agricultural employment and local food supplies. In addition, the renewable electricity generation decreases greenhouse gas emissions while increasing farm revenue. As Canada, and Ontario in particular, is at a strategic disadvantage in agriculture without agrivoltaics, this study investigates the policy changes necessary to capitalize on the benefits of using agrivoltaics in Ontario. Land-use policies in Ontario are reviewed. Then, three case studies (peppers, sweet corn, and winter wheat) are analysed for agrivoltaic potential in Ontario. These results are analysed in conjunction with potential policies that would continue to protect the green-belt of the Golden Horseshoe, while enabling agrivoltaics in Ontario. Four agrivoltaic policy areas are discussed: increased research and development, enhanced education/public awareness, mechanisms to support Canada’s farmers converting to agrivoltaics, and using agrivoltaics as a potential source of trade surplus with the U.S. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agrifood Technologies)
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