Agriculture, Vol. 14, Pages 617: Assessing the Contribution of Smallholder Irrigation to Household Food Security in Zimbabwe Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture14040617 Authors: Norman Mupaso Godswill Makombe Raymond Mugandani Paramu L. Mafongoya Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 seeks to end hunger and guarantee food and nutrition security worldwide by 2030. Smallholder irrigation development remains a key strategy to achieve SDG 2. This study assesses how smallholder irrigation contributes to household food security in Mberengwa district, Zimbabwe. Primary data were gathered from a rando ..read more

Agriculture, Vol. 14, Pages 616: Viability, Government Support and the Service Function of Farmer Professional Cooperatives—Evidence from 487 Cooperatives in 13 Cities in Heilongjiang, China Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture14040616 Authors: Yuxin Liu Lihan Cao Yijia Wang Eryang Liu As the main body that unites farmers internally and connects with markets externally, professional farmer cooperatives are playing an increasingly important role around the world. In order to investigate the significant factors influencing this subject in agricultural socialization services, 487 cooper ..read more

Agriculture, Vol. 14, Pages 613: Spatio-Temporal Variation and Future Sustainability of Net Primary Productivity from 2001 to 2021 in Hetao Irrigation District, Inner Mongolia Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture14040613 Authors: Manman Peng Chaoqun Li Peng Wang Xincong Dai The Hetao Irrigation District in Inner Mongolia, a vital grain-producing region in northern China, faces growing environmental challenges. Studying net primary productivity (NPP) is essential for understanding spatiotemporal vegetation shifts and guiding locally adapted restoration and management efforts. Utilizing MOD17A3 ..read more

Agriculture, Vol. 14, Pages 615: Combined Transcriptome and Proteome Analysis Reveals the Molecular Mechanism by Which ZmPDI Improves Salt Resistance in Rice (Oryza sativa) Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture14040615 Authors: Jingjing Wang Kai Wang Ling Li Qixue Sun Dandan Li Dongli Hao Jingbo Chen Junqin Zong Jianxiu Liu Hailin Guo Rongrong Chen As one of the most salt-tolerant grasses, characterizing salt-tolerance genes of Zoysia matrella [L.] Merr. not only broaden the theoretical information of salt tolerance, but also provide new salt-resistant genetic resources for crop breeding. The s ..read more

Agriculture, Vol. 14, Pages 611: The Impact of Digital Finance on Farmers’ Adoption of Eco-Agricultural Technology: Evidence from Rice-Crayfish Co-Cultivation Technology in China Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture14040611 Authors: Zhe Liu Zhenhong Qi Qingsong Tian John Stephen Clark Zeyu Zhang Eco-agricultural technology is crucial in alleviating agricultural resource scarcity and environmental pressures. However, financial constraints affect its successful promotion. Digital finance significantly impacts farmers. However, existing research neglects the impact of digital finance on ..read more

Agriculture, Vol. 14, Pages 612: How Competitive Is the Agriculture in European Union Member States? An Assessment of Changes over the Past Decade Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture14040612 Authors: Anna Nowak Aneta Zakrzewska The need to monitor changes in the level of agricultural competitiveness of EU member states necessitates the development of an appropriate set of indicators to answer the question of whether a country is improving its competitive position. This paper proposes a synthetic measure for assessing the agricultural competitiveness in the member states of the European Union ..read more

Agriculture, Vol. 14, Pages 608: Investigating the Impacts of Wastewaters on Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) Seed Germination and Growth Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture14040608 Authors: Liam P. Reynolds Vitória F. C. Leme Paul C. Davidson There is an opportunity for agriculture to utilize the many different waste streams in our world and capitalize on what would otherwise be viewed as waste products. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is an emerging technology for converting wet biomass to bio-crude oil, while aquaponics is a practice tracing back to indigenous communities around the world; both te ..read more

Agriculture, Vol. 14, Pages 609: Exploring Symbiosis: Innovatively Unveiling the Interplay between the Cold Chain Logistics of Fresh Agricultural Products and the Ecological Environment Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture14040609 Authors: Yingdan Zhang Xuemei Fan Yingying Cao Jiahui Xue Cold chain logistics are crucial for reducing agricultural product loss, yet the environmental impact of energy and packaging consumption, among others, demands attention, making the search for eco-friendly development modes essential. Based on data from 30 provinces in China from 2015 to 2021, this study anal ..read more

Agriculture, Vol. 14, Pages 610: Do Living Mulches or Environmental Conditions Have a Greater Impact on the External Quality of the Apple Fruit ‘Chopin’ Cultivar? Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture14040610 Authors: Maria Licznar-Malanczuk Urszula Barbara Baluszynska Research was carried out to assess the yield and quality of fruits from the new Polish apple tree ‘Chopin’—a ‘green peel’, scab-resistant cultivar under grass living mulch management. Blue fescue and red fescue were tested in experiment no ..read more

Agriculture, Vol. 14, Pages 607: Preliminary Exploration of Physiology and Genetic Basis Underlying High Yield in Indica–Japonica Hybrid Rice Agriculture doi: 10.3390/agriculture14040607 Authors: Xiaojuan Fan Yongtao Cui Jian Song Honghuan Fan Liqun Tang Jianjun Wang The utilization of heterosis is of great significance in improving rice yield. To explore the physiological and genetic basis for high yield in indica–japonica hybrid rice, Zheyou18 (z18) and Yongyou12 (y12) were used as materials and compared with indica hybrid rice, Zheyou12 (z12); japonica hybrid rice, L ..read more