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The European Union green deal has proposed the “organic farming action plan” to render a farming system that is more sustainable and adaptable in terms of climate change mitigation and thus enable meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). While this policy instrument is fundamental to achieving sustainable agriculture, there is still no agreement on what sustainable agriculture is and how to measure it. This opinion paper proposes an ecosystem-based framework for the crop life cycle to determine the balance between the economic, social, and environmental pillars of sustainability toward supporting decision-making.

Coffee production is fragile, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports indicate that climate change (CC) will reduce worldwide yields on average and decrease coffee-suitable land by 2050. This article adopted the systematic review approach to provide an update of the literature available on the impacts of climate change on coffee production and other ecosystem services following the framework proposed by the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. The review identified 148 records from literature considering the effects of climate change and climate variability on coffee production, covering countries mostly from three continents (America, Africa, and Asia). The current literature evaluates and analyses various climate change impacts on single services using qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Impacts have been classified and described according to different impact groups. However, available research products lacked important analytical functions on the precise relationships between the potential risks of CC on coffee farming systems and associated ecosystem services. Consequently, the manuscript recommends further work on ecosystem services and their interrelation to assess the impacts of climate change on coffee following the ecosystem services framework.

Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are described in the literature as having a significant role in securing crop management of modern agriculture in conditions of abiotic and biotic stressors. A joint field experiment was carried out to assess the role of seaweed-based extracts in pear trees and to test the “less for more” theory, which consists of getting more and better agricultural produce using fewer innovative inputs. The trials took place on two production seasons (from March till September 2018–2019) and the selected case study was on a pear orchard (Pyrus communis L. cv. Abate Fètel) in Emilia Romagna (Italy) by Fondazione Navarra and Timac Agro Italia S.p.A. Results demonstrate that, depending on the yearly climate conditions, it was possible to substantially reduce the primary nutrients by 35–46% and total fertilisation units applied by 13% and significantly improve quantitative and qualitative production indicators (average weight of fruits (5%) and total yield (19–55%)). Results also confirm a positive correlation between plant growth regulators and agronomic efficiency of pears which increased between five and nine times compared to the conventional nutrition programme. These outcomes constitute scientific evidence for decision making in farm management.

The frequency and intensity of drought, extreme events and high wind velocities in South Africa are expected to increase in the next century as a result of the changing climate. The National Water Resource Strategy 2 (NWR[S.sub.2]) has set out the general and strategic directions for water resources management in the country for the next 20 years. However, the strategy does not draw a framework tailored specifically for agricultural use, with specific measures and goals. Therefore, to reach sustainability of water in agriculture, four major strategic goals are suggested, on which research institutions can focus and promote through good governance. The strategy emphasises: (1) crop research to find new droughtand heat-tolerant and resistant breeds and varieties; (2) intensified research in agricultural practices; (3) increasing the efficiency of water use within agriculture; and (4) integrating all these strategic goals within a sustainable research framework. Finally, the research calls for rapid action and implementation. Significance: * The framework is proposed for stakeholders and policymakers in higher education, agriculture and resources management in South Africa for new research horizons at national level to improve overall agricultural sustainability by 2030 as stipulated by the Millennium Development Goals. KEYWORDS: water management; irrigation; National Water Resource Strategy; arid and semi-arid areas; South Africa

In the last few decades, a great deal has been written on the use of sustainable agriculture to improve the resilience of ecosystem services to climate change. However, no tangible and systematic evidence exists on how this agriculture would participate in alleviating impacts on vulnerable rural communities. This paper provides a narrative systematic review (SR) integrated with a bibliometric analysis and a concept network analysis to determine how, in this changing climate, sustainable agriculture can increase the resilience of agrosystems. Our search ranged from the date of the first relevant article until the end of 2018. The results generated demonstrated the following: (a) Only single practices and methods have been studied to assess the impacts on single ecosystem services; (b) Soil quality and health are considered a key indicator of sustainable agriculture; (c) Although the assessed practices and methods were shown to improve the biodiversity of agrosystems, which makes them more resilient to extreme climate events, we are still far from developing interdisciplinary and multidimensional agriculture that integrates all management aspects and generates a full range of ecosystem services. In conclusion, this study addressed the following recommendations for the scientific community and policymakers to orient future research strategies and efforts: (a) The integration of all agrosystem services into sustainable management using an ecosystem-based approach on a life-cycle basis using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method; (b) Improving the scientific understanding of traditional knowledge to facilitate greater synergy and further integration; (c) The unification of assessment methods and indicators for the quantification of impacts; (d) The creation of a platform to share, monitor, screen, and approve assessments and evaluations of sustainable agriculture by region.

The increasing demand for sustainable agriculture has accelerated research into eco-friendly plant health management, particularly through natural substances rich in bioactive compounds. In this study, various substances, including essential oils, extracts from Aloe vera, artichoke and ornamental plants, by-products from beer and coffee processing, and selected commercial formulations including biostimulants and a plant strengthener, were evaluated for their antimicrobial properties and ability to trigger plant defenses. Notably, Agapanthus spp. exhibited strong antifungal activity against the fungus Botrytis cinerea (Bc), while thyme, tea tree, and lavender essential oils were effective against both Bc and the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst). Greenhouse trials on tomato plants demonstrated the protective effects of A. vera gel and ornamental plant extracts against Bc and Potato virus Y (PVY), while coffee and artichoke extracts were effective against Pst. An alginate-based formulation containing thyme oil showed enhanced in planta efficacy against the three pathogens. Gene expression analyses revealed early upregulation of PR-1 and PR-4, especially with alginate treatments and A. vera gel at 12 h post-treatment (hpt) while coffee extract triggered the strongest late response at 72 hpt. These findings highlight the potential of plant-derived substances in promoting sustainable plant disease management through both direct antimicrobial action and immune system activation.

The economy of Apulia Region largely depends on agriculture but the scarce water resources are the main factor threatening the sustainable production of this sector. This paper describes a geographical information system (GIS) based water balance tool that integrates maps of crops, climate and soil parameters with various scenarios of cropping pattern and farming practice changes. The aim is to assess the implication of these scenarios on the spatial and volumetric water needs of the region's irrigated agriculture. The total net volumetric irrigation needs, under current land use and full irrigation practices, were estimated on an average year to be 973 million m3. The deficit irrigation practices currently used in Capitanata water districts can save a volume of 302 million m3 if they are extrapolated over the entire region. Based on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a replacement of 30% of the actual tomato areas in Foggia Province with sunflowers (energy crop) or durum wheat (rainfed crop) has potential water saving of 9 million m3 and 67 million m3, respectively. An additional 103 million m3 of water saving may be obtained through modernisation of the vineyards' growing practices. Findings of this paper could be used to address the agricultural policies towards a sustainable use of the scarce fresh water.

For decades, human-induced climate change has been scientifically predicted and observed to cause devastating global phenomena globally [...]

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for the plant life cycle. The agricultural management of phosphorus is complicated by the inefficient use of phosphorus by plants, consequent environmental losses, and the rapid consumption of slowly renewed phosphate rock (PR). These issues represent a huge environmental burden and jeopardise food production. In this study, we proposed the combination of this fertiliser with food-processing by-products such as olive pomace, barley spent grain, and citrus pomace to increase phosphate rock solubility and the efficient use of P. Phosphate rock, by-products, and mixtures of phosphate rock and by-products were placed into litterbags and buried in sand. Periodically, one replicate per treatment was collected for the destructive measurement of total and water-soluble phosphorus. In parallel, pH, organic matter, and ash content were measured to investigate the mechanisms behind changes in P content. The mixtures’ P-release values ranged between 80% and 88%, whereas phosphate rock lost 23% of its P over 30 days. Phosphate rock showed a constant water-soluble P fraction at the four sampling times, whereas the mixtures exhibited a highly water-soluble P fraction that tended to decrease over time. Specifically, citrus pomace led to the significant and rapid release of phosphorus, barley spent grain maintained the highest water-soluble fraction over 30 days, and olive pomace was not the best-performing product but still performed better than pure phosphate rock. Moreover, the increased solubility of phosphate rock in mixtures was significantly (p < 0.001) ascribed to the reduction in pH. The results of this experiment are promising for in vivo trials and suggest the possibility of simple and easily achievable solutions for more sustainable production systems and effective P-fertilisation strategies. Proposing such easily applicable and inexpensive solutions can reduce the distance between research achievements and field applications.

Several modelling tools reported the climate change impact on the coffee agrosystems. This article has adopted a systematic approach to searching out information from the literature about different modelling approaches to assess climate change impacts or/and adaptation on coffee crops worldwide. The review included all scientific publications from the date of the first relevant article until the end of 2022 and screened 60 relevant articles. Most results report research conducted in America, followed by Africa. The models assessed in the literature generally incorporate Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission scenarios (80% of manuscripts), particularly Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) and Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES), with the most common projection periods until 2050 (50% of documents). The selected manuscripts contain qualitative and quantitative modelling tools to simulate climate impact on crop suitability (55% of results), crop productivity (25% of studies), and pests and diseases (20% of the results). According to the analysed literature, MaxEnt is the leading machine learning model to assess the climate suitability of coffee agrosystems. The most authentic and reliable model in pest distribution is the Insect Life Cycle Modelling Software (ILCYM) (version 4.0). Scientific evidence shows a lack of adaptation modelling, especially in shading and irrigation practices, which crop models can assess. Therefore, it is recommended to fill this scientific gap by generating modelling tools to understand better coffee crop phenology and its adaptation under different climate scenarios to support adaptation strategies in coffee-producing countries, especially for the Robusta coffee species, where a lack of studies is reported (6% of the results), even though this species represents 40% of the total coffee production.