SUSTAINABLE CROP AND PASTURE SYSTEMS: FROM ABOVE- AND BELOWGROUND INTERACTIONS TO ECOSYSTEM MULTIFUNCTIONALITY

Intensive agriculture, characterized by strong reliance on excessive amount of external agrochemical inputs in simplified cropping systems has contributed successfully to feeding an increasing number of humans, but at the expense of severe resource and environmental costs. Consequently, the Earth is facing multifaceted challenges, including increasing food demand both in quantity and quality, global warming associated with extreme weather events, soil degradation and depletion of natural resources. To address some of these challenges, we have developed this Special Issue on Sustainable Crop and Pasture Systems for Frontiers of Agricultural Sciences and Engineering (FASE). The issue addresses the research frontiers of two main themes: (1) aboveground-belowground ecological and physiological mechanisms, processes and ecosystem functions; and (2) the synergies and trade-offs between multiple ecosystem services in sustainable crop and pasture systems. There are 10 articles in this Special Issue including review and research articles with contributions from Australia, China, France, the Netherlands, and the UK. The contributors are all highly-regarded scientists devoted to studies on mechanisms and applications of sustainable crop and pasture systems © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)