IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v15y2025i6p581-d1608601.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multidimensional Perspective of Sustainable Agroecosystems and the Impact on Crop Production: A Review

Author

Listed:
  • Zanele Adams

    (Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha 5117, South Africa)

  • Albert Thembinkosi Modi

    (Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha 5117, South Africa)

  • Simon Kamande Kuria

    (Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha 5117, South Africa)

Abstract

Agroecosystems form a natural ecosystem component, allowing the proper classification of a regional biome at a global scale. It is important to view agroecosystems from a micro-environmental perspective given that they are characterised by a combination of factors, including the interaction of soil–plant–atmosphere conditions, which are largely responsive to human management practices. The published literature generally provides a limited explanation of the multidimensional nature of agroecosystems. In combination, agroecosystem practices promote efficient water use and nutrient cycling in defence of regenerative agriculture ethos. Sustainable agroecosystem practices can be combined to explain how to mitigate the risks to biodiversity. This study aims to present a review of predominant advances in sustainable crop production from the perspective of the agroecosystem. A hybrid methodology of data mining and interpretation was used to establish the meaning and relationships of the major research areas that have emerged over time and dominate the narrative of sustainable agroecosystem definition and practices. Crop diversification, sustainable soil management, integrated pest management, sustainable water resource management, and precision agriculture were selected using document summarisation and entity relation modelling to generate and explain relationships between various components of sustainable agroecosystems based on the existing literature. A major finding is the confirmation of comparable applications in different regions, whose explanation is enhanced by recent advances in data summation. This review concludes that sustainable agroecosystems are separable in meaning and impact. However, it is reasonable to recommend the need for future research into their integration for implementation and interpretation.

Suggested Citation

  • Zanele Adams & Albert Thembinkosi Modi & Simon Kamande Kuria, 2025. "Multidimensional Perspective of Sustainable Agroecosystems and the Impact on Crop Production: A Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-26, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:6:p:581-:d:1608601
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/6/581/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/6/581/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shahzad Ahmad & Haiping Xu & E. M. B. P. Ekanayake, 2023. "Socioeconomic Determinants and Perceptions of Smallholder Farmers towards Agroforestry Adoption in Northern Irrigated Plain, Pakistan," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-25, April.
    2. Teodoro Semeraro & Aurelia Scarano & Angelo Leggieri & Antonio Calisi & Monica De Caroli, 2023. "Impact of Climate Change on Agroecosystems and Potential Adaptation Strategies," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-21, May.
    3. Yuzhu Zou & Zhenshan Liu & Yan Chen & Yin Wang & Shijing Feng, 2024. "Crop Rotation and Diversification in China: Enhancing Sustainable Agriculture and Resilience," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, August.
    4. E. M. B. M. Karunathilake & Anh Tuan Le & Seong Heo & Yong Suk Chung & Sheikh Mansoor, 2023. "The Path to Smart Farming: Innovations and Opportunities in Precision Agriculture," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-26, August.
    5. Magdalena Szymańska & Wiktoria Gubiec & Bożena Smreczak & Aleksandra Ukalska-Jaruga & Tomasz Sosulski, 2024. "How Does Specialization in Agricultural Production Affect Soil Health?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-16, March.
    6. Bruna Moreira & Alexandre Gonçalves & Luís Pinto & Miguel A. Prieto & Márcio Carocho & Cristina Caleja & Lillian Barros, 2024. "Intercropping Systems: An Opportunity for Environment Conservation within Nut Production," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, July.
    7. Paulo Dimande & Margarida Arrobas & Manuel Ângelo Rodrigues, 2024. "Intercropped Maize and Cowpea Increased the Land Equivalent Ratio and Enhanced Crop Access to More Nitrogen and Phosphorus Compared to Cultivation as Sole Crops," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-16, February.
    8. Sandra Volken & Patrick Bottazzi, 2024. "Sustainable farm work in agroecology: how do systemic factors matter?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(3), pages 1037-1052, September.
    9. Drew E. Terasaki Hart & Samantha Yeo & Maya Almaraz & Damien Beillouin & Rémi Cardinael & Edenise Garcia & Sonja Kay & Sarah Taylor Lovell & Todd S. Rosenstock & Starry Sprenkle-Hyppolite & Fred Stoll, 2023. "Priority science can accelerate agroforestry as a natural climate solution," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 13(11), pages 1179-1190, November.
    10. Rina Purwaningsih & Junun Sartohadi & Muhammad Anggri Setiawan, 2020. "Trees and Crops Arrangement in the Agroforestry System Based on Slope Units to Control Landslide Reactivation on Volcanic Foot Slopes in Java, Indonesia," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-18, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anastasios Michailidis & Chrysanthi Charatsari & Thomas Bournaris & Efstratios Loizou & Aikaterini Paltaki & Dimitra Lazaridou & Evagelos D. Lioutas, 2024. "A First View on the Competencies and Training Needs of Farmers Working with and Researchers Working on Precision Agriculture Technologies," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, January.
    2. Shah Fahad & Sangram Bhanudas Chavan & Akash Ravindra Chichaghare & Appanderanda Ramani Uthappa & Manish Kumar & Vijaysinha Kakade & Aliza Pradhan & Dinesh Jinger & Gauri Rawale & Dinesh Kumar Yadav &, 2022. "Agroforestry Systems for Soil Health Improvement and Maintenance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-25, November.
    3. Luciana Di Gregorio & Lorenzo Nolfi & Arianna Latini & Nikolaos Nikoloudakis & Nils Bunnefeld & Maurizio Notarfonso & Roberta Bernini & Ioannis Manikas & Annamaria Bevivino, 2024. "Getting (ECO)Ready: Does EU Legislation Integrate Up-to-Date Scientific Data for Food Security and Biodiversity Preservation Under Climate Change?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-21, December.
    4. Ying Cao & Zhixiong Fan & Weiqiang Chen & Zhijian Cao & Anyin Jiang, 2024. "Climate Change, Biased Technological Advances and Agricultural TFP: Empirical Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-19, July.
    5. Martin Brandt & Dimitri Gominski & Florian Reiner & Ankit Kariryaa & Venkanna Babu Guthula & Philippe Ciais & Xiaoye Tong & Wenmin Zhang & Dhanapal Govindarajulu & Daniel Ortiz-Gonzalo & Rasmus Fensho, 2024. "Severe decline in large farmland trees in India over the past decade," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 7(7), pages 860-868, July.
    6. Jeannette Aduhene-Chinbuah & Clement Oppong Peprah, 2024. "Multi-risk management in Ghana's agricultural sector: Strategies, actors, and conceptual shifts—a review," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 105(4), pages 393-418, December.
    7. Sergio Monteleone & Edmilson Alves de Moraes & Roberto Max Protil & Brenno Tondato de Faria & Rodrigo Filev Maia, 2024. "Proposal of a Model of Irrigation Operations Management for Exploring the Factors That Can Affect the Adoption of Precision Agriculture in the Context of Agriculture 4.0," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-33, January.
    8. Elena Georgopoulou & Nikos Gakis & Dimitris Voloudakis & Markos Daskalakis & Yannis Sarafidis & Dimitris P. Lalas & Sevastianos Mirasgedis, 2024. "Effectiveness of Options for the Adaptation of Crop Farming to Climate Change in a Country of the European South," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-25, October.
    9. Datta, Pritha & Behera, Bhagirath & Rahut, Dil Bahadur, 2024. "Assessing the role of agriculture-forestry-livestock nexus in improving farmers' food security in South Asia: A systematic literature review," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    10. Deniz Uztürk & Gülçin Büyüközkan, 2023. "Strategic Analysis for Advancing Smart Agriculture with the Analytic SWOT/PESTLE Framework: A Case for Turkey," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-25, December.
    11. Semeraro, Teodoro & Scarano, Aurelia & Curci, Lorenzo Maria & Leggieri, Angelo & Lenucci, Marcello & Basset, Alberto & Santino, Angelo & Piro, Gabriella & De Caroli, Monica, 2024. "Shading effects in agrivoltaic systems can make the difference in boosting food security in climate change," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    12. Jung-Kyu Lee & Ye-Hun Lee & Dong-Hoon Lee, 2024. "Proximal Absorbance Calibration Method Using an Embedded Blank Reference RGB Sensor for Determination of Ion Concentrations," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, November.
    13. Hong Fan & Rong Miao & Congcong Guo & Xiaoyuan Bao & Wei He & Yali Sun & Cai Zhao, 2025. "Research on the Effect of Diversified Cropping on Crop Quality: A Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-22, February.
    14. Datta, Pritha & Behera, Bhagirath & Timsina, Jagadish & Rahut, Dil Bahadur, 2024. "Achieving sustainable development through agriculture-forestry-livestock nexus in Bangladesh: Synergies and trade-offs," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    15. Anca Antoaneta Vărzaru, 2025. "Digital Revolution in Agriculture: Using Predictive Models to Enhance Agricultural Performance Through Digital Technology," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-31, January.
    16. Luca Preite & Federico Solari & Giuseppe Vignali, 2025. "Water Management Optimization in Agriculture: a Digital Model Development," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 39(3), pages 1261-1279, February.
    17. André Fonseca & José Cruz & Helder Fraga & Cristina Andrade & Joana Valente & Fernando Alves & Ana Carina Neto & Rui Flores & João A. Santos, 2024. "Vineyard Microclimatic Zoning as a Tool to Promote Sustainable Viticulture under Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-21, April.
    18. Tengfei Zhang & Jinhao Zhou & Wei Liu & Rencai Yue & Jiawei Shi & Chunjian Zhou & Jianping Hu, 2024. "SN-CNN: A Lightweight and Accurate Line Extraction Algorithm for Seedling Navigation in Ridge-Planted Vegetables," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, August.
    19. Chrysanthi Charatsari & Anastasios Michailidis & Evagelos D. Lioutas & Thomas Bournaris & Efstratios Loizou & Aikaterini Paltaki & Dimitra Lazaridou, 2023. "Competencies Needed for Guiding the Digital Transition of Agriculture: Are Future Advisors Well-Equipped?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-15, November.
    20. Yunong Ma & Shi Cao & Xia Lu & Jiqing Peng & Lina Ping & Xiang Fan & Xiongwei Guan & Xiangnan Liu & Meiling Liu, 2024. "State-and-Evolution Detection Model for Characterizing Farmland Spatial Pattern Variation in Hengyang Using Long Time Series Remote Sensing Product," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-16, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:6:p:581-:d:1608601. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.