Introduction: Sustainability as an agroecological strategy toward resilience in agricultural systems

Abstract

AbstractThe sustainability and resilience of agrifood systems are key concepts to ensure environmental standards in agriculture and food security. Recently, global food security has been seriously affected by the pandemics, geopolitical issues, and conflicts, and climate change factors have become a significant concern for scientists along with farmers, consumers, and citizens. To face these challenges, a systemic resilience in sustainable agriculture is pivotal. The research papers published in the special section of Agronomy Journal, “Agricultural and biological sciences: Plant, soil, animal and environment”, consider the role of sustainability in building greater resilience to current pivotal and diverse problems encountered in agricultural systems. This special section is a collection of coherent research studies that used a multidisciplinary approach. A total of 52 papers were submitted, of which 12 were accepted for publication following a double‐blind reviewing process. The purposes of the present paper were to identify the role of sustainability in the resilience of agricultural systems and to discuss the main results of these published articles. Results suggested that specific issues relevant to forests, crops, horticulture systems, and animal production could be improved and made more resilient by applying modern agricultural tools, efficient use of natural resources, and smart device technology. A sustainable intensification in a changing environment will require resilience at many levels. Key strategies identified included (i) improvement of resource efficiency; (ii) adoption of techniques that generate landscape‐scale resilience; and (iii) use of a combination of different evaluation and planning strategies to advance the knowledge of crop and livestock interactions.