Towards Climate-Smart Agriculture: Carbon Sequestration, Nitrogen Dynamics, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The transition towards more sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural systems requires a deeper understanding of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics and their interactions with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Agricultural management practices strongly influence soil organic C sequestration, nutrient cycling, ecosystem productivity, and the emissions of GHG such as CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O. Improving our knowledge of these processes is essential for developing effective mitigation and adaptation strategies that enhance agroecosystem sustainability while contributing to global climate goals.

This Special Issue aims to bring together original research, reviews, and methodological studies that advance our understanding of C and N management in agricultural systems and their implications for GHG, ecosystem functioning, and climate resilience. Contributions may address experimental, observational, modeling, or integrated approaches across a wide range of agroecosystems and climatic conditions.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Soil C sequestration and storage under sustainable agricultural practices. • C and N cycling in croplands, grasslands, agroforestry systems, and mixed farming systems.
• Greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O) and their environmental drivers.
• Effects of conservation agriculture, cover crops, organic amendments, biochar, reduced tillage, and regenerative practices on C and N dynamics.
• Nutrient management strategies and their impacts on productivity, environmental quality, and GHG mitigation.
• Monitoring, measurement, and assessment methods for carbon stocks, nitrogen fluxes, and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Climate change impacts on carbon and nitrogen processes in agricultural systems.
• Long-term experiments, meta-analyses, and life-cycle assessments evaluating sustainable agricultural practices.

Through this collection, we seek to foster interdisciplinary research that supports the development of climate-smart and sustainable agroecosystems capable of improving resource-use efficiency, reducing environmental impacts, and strengthening resilience to future climatic challenges.

Fee Support
As a Gold open-access journal, all articles are subject to publishing fees. Authors can benefit from financial support from their institution through Frontiers' Institutional Agreements. For full details please see the journals Publishing Fees page. Members of the SECS are also entitled to a 30% discount off their publishing fees.

Please contact the Publishing Office if you have any questions.

Article types and fees

This Special Issue accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Special Issue description:

• Brief Research Report
• Commentary
• Editorial
• Letter to the Editor
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Review

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Special Issue accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Special Issue description:

• Brief Research Report
• Commentary
• Editorial
• Letter to the Editor
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Review

Keywords: Carbon sequestration, Nitrogen dynamics, Greenhouse gas emissions, Climate-smart agriculture, Agroecosystem sustainability