Cogent Food & Agriculture

Climate Smart Agriculture for Resilient and Sustainable Food Systems

Global food production must increase by an estimated 50–70% by 2050 to meet the demands of a population projected to reach nearly 10 billion, while agriculture faces unprecedented pressures from climate change, resource degradation, and environmental constraints. Food systems currently contribute approximately one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, consume nearly 70% of freshwater withdrawals, and occupy about half of the world's habitable land. Simultaneously, rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, increasing frequency of droughts and floods, and declining soil health are threatening agricultural productivity and stability across regions. Recent assessments indicate that climate change could reduce yields of major staple crops by 10–25% in many vulnerable production systems by mid-century without effective adaptation measures. Against this backdrop, Climate Smart Agriculture has emerged as a science-based framework that seeks to sustainably increase productivity, strengthen resilience, enhance resource-use efficiency, and reduce environmental impacts while supporting food and livelihood security.

The importance of Climate Smart Agriculture extends beyond farm productivity to the broader challenge of achieving food security, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience simultaneously. Global agricultural productivity growth has slowed to less than 2% annually in many regions, while climate-related losses already affect hundreds of millions of people and generate economic damages exceeding hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Approximately 33% of the world's soils are moderately to highly degraded, resulting in substantial losses of soil organic carbon, nutrient-use efficiency, and water-holding capacity. Agriculture remains a major source of methane and nitrous oxide emissions, accounting for nearly 40% of anthropogenic methane and over 70% of nitrous oxide emissions globally. At the same time, nearly 500 million smallholder farms produce a significant share of the world's food and are among the most vulnerable to climate variability. Evidence from diverse agroecosystems demonstrates that climate-smart interventions—including improved nutrient management, water-saving technologies, conservation agriculture, agroforestry, digital decision-support systems, and nature-based solutions—can increase yields by 10–30%, reduce water use by 20–50%, improve nutrient-use efficiency by 15–40%, enhance soil carbon stocks, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. However, the effectiveness, scalability, and socioeconomic impacts of these interventions remain highly context-specific, underscoring the need for rigorous, data-driven research to identify pathways that deliver measurable benefits across productivity, resilience, mitigation, and farmer livelihoods.

This Article Collection seeks to advance the evidence base for Climate Smart Agriculture by bringing together interdisciplinary research that quantifies impacts, explains underlying mechanisms, and identifies pathways for scaling across diverse agroecosystems. We welcome studies spanning field, farm, landscape, and food-system scales, with particular emphasis on measurable outcomes related to productivity, resilience, resource-use efficiency, greenhouse gas mitigation, soil health, biodiversity, and socioeconomic performance. Topics of interest include climate-resilient cropping systems, regenerative and conservation agriculture, soil carbon dynamics, biochar and nature-based solutions, nutrient stewardship, water-smart agriculture, precision farming, digital agriculture, artificial intelligence, remote sensing, crop modeling, climate risk assessment, adaptation and mitigation strategies, carbon markets, monitoring, reporting and verification frameworks, circular bioeconomy approaches, agroforestry systems, and policy innovations.

We particularly encourage studies employing long-term datasets, meta-analyses, life-cycle assessments, geospatial analyses, machine learning approaches, and multi-location evaluations that generate robust and transferable insights. The Article Collection welcomes Original Research Articles, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, Meta-Analyses, Methods Papers, Perspectives, Short Communications, Case Studies, and Policy Analyses that contribute to the scientific understanding and practical implementation of Climate Smart Agriculture for sustainable, resilient, and low-emission food systems worldwide.

Keywords: Climate Smart Agriculture, Climate Resilience, Sustainable Food Systems, Soil Health and Carbon Sequestration, Agricultural Adaptation and Mitigation

Guest Advisors:

Dr. Ajay Kumar Mishra Ph.D. is a Senior Associate Scientist (Soil Science) at the International Rice Research Institute South Asia Regional Centre (IRRI ISARC), India. His research focuses on climate smart agriculture, soil health, regenerative agriculture, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas mitigation, and sustainable intensification of agri-food systems. He has led and collaborated on multidisciplinary research projects across Asia, generating evidence on climate resilience, resource-use efficiency, and low-emission agricultural technologies. Dr. Mishra serves on the editorial boards of several international journals and has edited multiple books on soil health, regenerative agriculture, and environmental sustainability. His work bridges scientific innovation, policy engagement, and field-scale implementation to advance resilient and sustainable food systems. Here is the link to his ORCID page: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2783-0106

Dr. Wahyu Iskandar Ph.D. is an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Soil Science and Land Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB University, Indonesia, and a researcher at the Centre for Regional System Analysis, Planning and Development (CrestPent). His research focuses on tropical peatland ecosystems, peat soil hydrology, nutrient dynamics, peatland restoration, and UAV-based remote sensing applications for environmental monitoring and sustainable land management. Dr. Iskandar earned his PhD in Agricultural Science from Kyoto University, Japan, where he investigated the hydrological characteristics and nutrient fluxes of peat-mineral landscapes in Southeast Asia. He has extensive experience in international research collaborations involving peatland restoration, climate resilience, and ecosystem management, and has contributed to advancing geospatial and remote sensing approaches for sustainable agriculture and natural resource conservation. Here is the link to his ORCID page: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9928-5821

Dr. Anthony Michael Fulford Ph.D. is a Scientist II at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) with over 15 years of experience in soil fertility, nutrient management, soil health assessment, and climate-smart agricultural systems. He earned his PhD in Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences from the University of Arkansas and has held research and extension positions at the University of California and The Ohio State University. His research focuses on nutrient-use efficiency, sustainable soil management, greenhouse gas mitigation, soil health diagnostics, and evidence-based fertilizer recommendations across diverse cropping systems. Dr. Fulford has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in leading agronomy and soil science journals and has contributed to the development of innovative tools and decision-support systems that improve agricultural productivity, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience.

Dr. Amitava Rakshit Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), India, with over two decades of experience in soil fertility, rhizosphere chemistry, nutrient use efficiency, sustainable agriculture, and natural resource management. He has authored more than 175 peer-reviewed publications, 40 books, and secured numerous national and international research grants focused on soil health, climate-resilient agriculture, microbial technologies, and sustainable intensification. His pioneering research on biopriming, mycorrhizal technologies, integrated nutrient management, and regenerative farming has contributed significantly to improving soil productivity, resource-use efficiency, and smallholder livelihoods across South Asia. Prof. Rakshit serves on several international scientific committees and editorial boards and has received numerous national and international recognitions for excellence in research, teaching, and scientific leadership. His work bridges fundamental soil science, innovation, capacity building, and policy-relevant solutions for resilient and sustainable food systems. Here is the link to his ORCID page: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9406-8262

Disclosure statement: All Guest Advisors declare no conflict of interest.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process; the Guest Advisor for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member).

Please review the journal scope  and author submission instructions  prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is March 31st, 2027.

Please contact Ruby Ru at [email protected]  with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

To submit your papers to this Article Collection, please:

1. Check "yes" for the question, "Are you submitting your paper for a specific special issue or article collection?"
2. Select the relevant Article Collection from the drop-down menu under the question, "Special Issue or Article Collection Name."