Review paper on emerging trends in cropping system research

Abstract

This review paper provides an overview of the emerging trends and challenges in cropping system research. It highlights the importance of understanding cropping systems to address food security and sustainability issues. Today's cropping systems research needs sustainability, environment, society, and financial infusion in the systems effectively if it has to shoulder its responsibilities in research and development besides the infusion of a large number of agronomic topics. Technically, new trends are coming up, and new research devices are being designed. Re-examining the biological foundation of sustainability is another. In this view, humanity might be described as tracing a circle of learning that began with agriculture as a somewhat changed way of harvesting from nature, moved over to input-intensive agriculture, and is in the process of coming back to agriculture that puts more emphasis on natural processes and learning from nature (Shrestha & Clements, 2003). The paper discusses the need for integrated approaches that consider various factors such as climate change, soil health, pest management, and technological advancements to optimize crop production (Yang et al., 2020). Furthermore, the paper explores the impact of novel cropping practices on soil health and discusses the evolution of plant-microbe-soil complexes. It also examines the concept of soil quality and health, and the key indicators used to evaluate soil health in agro-systems. Additionally, the paper addresses the issues that agroecosystems face and how various cropping practices have developed over time. The authors emphasize the importance of policies and necessary measures to ensure healthy soil, as it is a crucial component for sustainable ecosystem development. The authors highlight the need to improve organic systems and recognize that generalizations about the capability of any system type to feed the world are inappropriate due to methodological issues and limited research (Hendrickson et al., 2008). The authors also discuss the challenges of weed control in organic systems and the issues associated with intensive pesticide use in conventional systems. Moreover, the paper emphasizes the need for dynamic cropping systems adaptable to external changes and possessing greater crop diversity and sequencing flexibility (Hanson et al., 2007). These dynamic cropping systems can help meet multiple agronomic and environmental objectives while enhancing management adaptability. In conclusion, this review paper highlights the emerging trends and challenges in cropping system research. In conclusion, the paper highlights the importance of understanding cropping systems to address food security and sustainability issues (Hendrickson et al., 2008). This contribution briefly overviews world tendencies and paradigm changes in cropping agricultural systems research.