Re-coupling Crops and Livestock to Enhance Soil Biogeochemistry, Agroecosystem Resilience, and Sustainable Productivity

Modern agricultural systems have become increasingly simplified and spatially segregated, leading to soil health degradation, reduced diversity, loss of soil organic carbon, and disrupted water and nutrient cycling. Recent advances in soil ecology and biogeochemistry show that more diversified systems—especially integrated crop–livestock systems—can restore key soil functions by improving structure, water regulation, nutrient availability, carbon sequestration, and soil microbiome dynamics. Re-coupling crops and livestock offers a promising pathway to reduce fertilizer dependence and enhance agroecosystem resilience. Yet, major gaps remain, including the need for multi-scale approaches, long-term datasets, better integration of microbial indicators, and assessments combining productivity, environmental impacts, and economic viability. Addressing these gaps aligns closely with international frameworks such as the European Green Deal, the EU Soil Mission, and Agroecology Europe, which call for diversified and soil-centered agricultural transitions.Agricultural impacts on soils and the environment are increasingly linked to excessive uniformity rather than productivity itself. Addressing these challenges requires diversification at multiple organizational levels: the field, where biogeochemical and physiological processes occur; the farm, where management decisions shape resource flows; and the landscape, where interactions among land-use systems build or disrupt ecological synergies. Reintegration of livestock with arable systems has emerged as a key strategy to improve productivity while enhancing biodiversity, nutrient circularity, and ecological regulation.This Research Topic seeks to explore how diversified and re-associated systems can:• secure high and stable productivity,• restore and maintain soil health,• reduce reliance on synthetic fertilizers through improved nutrient coupling, and• mitigate broader environmental impacts such as eutrophication, greenhouse gas emissions, and pesticide/herbicide dependency.Recent advances in soil microbiome research, long-term experiments, system modelling, life-cycle assessment, and landscape-level analyses now offer powerful tools to investigate these transitions. We aim to gather contributions that deepen mechanistic understanding while generating actionable insights for redesigning agroecosystems. Topic editors: Gilles Joseph Lemaire, Paulo César De Faccio Carvalho, Leonardo Deiss Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/75126/re-coupling-crops-and-livestock-to-enhance-soil-biogeochemistry-agroecosystem-resilience-and-sustainable-productivity