Dear Colleagues,

As you know, the Paris Agreement has led to virtually all countries around the world agreeing to limit global warming well below 2 °C compared to pre-industrial levels.

Accordingly, each country was requested to define its post-2020 climate actions, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). In fact, around 90% of countries that had submitted their NDCs, as of early December 2020, included renewable energy targets for generating electricity.

These political objectives will create an increased demand for agricultural land for energy crops, which will compete with food and feed production, and also impact on nature and landscape conservation.

Consequently, alternative cropping systems for energy crop production that are both economically beneficial and environmentally compatible, but also socially acceptable, must be designed and implemented.

As cropping systems determine both the type and sequence of crops grown and the practices used for cultivating them, an optimization of the entire agricultural process at the most sustainable level requires energy crops with high energy yield potential, along with the lowest possible environmental impacts.

Forward-looking research will have a key role in the development and innovation of cropping systems. The aim of this Special Issue is thus to publish original contributions that evaluate energy crop production at the cropping system level.

We welcome original research articles as well as review articles addressing crop combinations and their sequences and the different management intensities and strategies in energy cropping systems.

We expect that the published findings will be useful in defining and evaluating energy crop production at the cropping system level, thus providing information crucial to policies aimed at energy and food security.

Dr. Silvia Pampana
Guest Editor

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• biomass
• climate change
• crop rotation
• cropping systems
• environmental impact
• EU Energy Roadmap 2050
• energy efficiencies
• management practices