Agricultural Land Management to Meet Future Global Food Demand (Second Edition)

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Socio-Economic and Political Issues".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 May 2025 | Viewed by 2730

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Productivity Commission, Australian Government, Melbourne, VIC 3008, Australia
Interests: agricultural economics; environmental economics; performance analysis; climate change adaptation; risk analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Global agriculture in the 21st century is facing two disparate challenges which call for studying the land–food–climate nexus. First, food production will need to substantially increase to meet the growing demand of a larger and wealthier population. Moreover, climate change, urbanization, and several other drivers are posing challenges to food production. Farmers can increase food production either by expanding land area or by raising existing agricultural land productivity. Given the limited cultivatable land and high socio-economic and ecosystem costs of clearing more land for agriculture, the prospect of expanding agricultural land is almost non-existent. Therefore, it is vital to raise crop yields on existing farmlands through adopting sustainable land management practices. Several social, economic, demographic, and biophysical factors can affect the implementation of land management practices in different agricultural production systems. Consequently, the design and implementation of location-specific land management practices that can enhance crop yields while minimizing adverse environmental impacts are important and require further research and investigation.

As the current and potential climate scenarios are expected to adversely affect food security, it is necessary to reconsider sustainable methods of farmland management for crop cultivation to meet future food demands. Therefore, for this Special Issue, we are interested in contributions that link agricultural land management practices to food production. This Special Issue also welcomes papers on unsustainable land management practices, as they can provide good lessons. Since the journal Land is a key platform for readers and contributors interested in this topic, we believe that Land is the most suitable platform for our Special Issue, “Agricultural Land Management to Meet Future Global Food Demand (Second Edition)”. We invite conceptual works and original research, review, and synthesis papers that address research issues including, but not limited to, the following:

  • The sustainable intensification of agricultural land;
  • Modeling agricultural systems and food production;
  • The design and implementation of land management practices;
  • Economic analyses of agricultural interventions;
  • The adoption and diffusion of agricultural technologies;
  • Agricultural adaptation and the mitigation of climate change and climate variability;
  • The environmental benefits of land management practices.

Dr. Uttam Khanal
Dr. Sanzidur Rahman
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. Land 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

  • sustainable land management
  • food security
  • agricultural intensification
  • crop diversification
  • agricultural adaptations to climate change

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

19 pages, 2627 KiB  
Article
Spatio-Temporal Differentiation and Driving Factors of County-Level Food Security in the Yellow River Basin: A Case Study of Ningxia, China
by Guiming Wu, Bing Xia, Suocheng Dong, Jing Zhang, Zehong Li and Guiqing Yang
Land 2024, 13(11), 1885; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13111885 - 11 Nov 2024
Viewed by 687
Abstract
Food security is the primary condition for the development of human society. The Great River Basin is very important to ensure the accessibility and availability of agricultural irrigation, which is vital for food security. The Yellow River Basin plays a significant role in [...] Read more.
Food security is the primary condition for the development of human society. The Great River Basin is very important to ensure the accessibility and availability of agricultural irrigation, which is vital for food security. The Yellow River Basin plays a significant role in China’s food security, with counties serving as key administrative units for guaranteeing this security. This study uses the Yellow River Basin in China as a case study to construct an evaluation index system for county-level food security. It assesses the food security of 22 counties (districts) in Ningxia from 2013 to 2022, applying spatial correlation theories and driving factor analysis methods to explore the factors influencing county-level food security. The results reveal the following: (1) Overall, the food security index in Ningxia has been on the rise, but there is significant internal variation among counties. (2) Spatially, the food security index is relatively low in administrative centers, while the irrigation areas along the Yellow River play a crucial role in maintaining food security, and the overall food security index in the central arid areas is improving. (3) Food security is driven by multiple factors including economic, social, and climatic influences. To enhance food security in the Yellow River Basin, it is necessary to manage land resources systematically, improve grain production technology, and balance ecological protection with food security. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 4353 KiB  
Article
Can Farmland Transfer Reduce Fertilizer Nonpoint Source Pollution? Evidence from China
by Ziming Bai, Xiaochen Zhang, Jiabin Xu and Cuixia Li
Land 2024, 13(6), 798; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13060798 - 4 Jun 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1255
Abstract
China repeatedly surpasses international fertilizer safety limits, resulting in significant fertilizer nonpoint source pollution (denoted as FNSP), which adversely affects food security and agricultural sustainability. Simultaneously, farmland transfer has emerged as a pivotal strategy for transitioning between agricultural production methods. The present study [...] Read more.
China repeatedly surpasses international fertilizer safety limits, resulting in significant fertilizer nonpoint source pollution (denoted as FNSP), which adversely affects food security and agricultural sustainability. Simultaneously, farmland transfer has emerged as a pivotal strategy for transitioning between agricultural production methods. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between farmland transfer and FNSP. In line with the aim of the study, based on China’s panel data from 2005 to 2020, the fixed-effect model, mediating-effect model, spatial Durbin model, and threshold regression model are employed. The findings reveal that farmland transfer exerts a significant inhibitory effect on FNSP. The reduction in FNSP through farmland transfer is facilitated by the decrease in fertilizer application intensity and increase in compound fertilizer application. Further, farmland transfer demonstrates a significant spatial spillover effect on FNSP, mitigating pollution levels within regions and influencing neighboring areas. Moreover, a nonlinear relationship between farmland transfer and FNSP is observed. These findings contribute to understanding the intricate dynamics between agricultural land management strategies and environmental sustainability, offering valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders engaged in promoting green and sustainable agricultural practices. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop