Plant phenotyping for a sustainable future

Several complex and interconnected megatrends such as climate change, environmental degradation, and stagnating yields threaten crop production and world food security for a growing global population (Maggio et al., 2018). This poses the challenge to develop sustainable and resilient agroecosystems with increased productivity as a key objective for the coming decades. In the past, agriculture has expanded production by breeding as well as by increasing inputs and farming areas. However, the projected scenarios call for considerable reductions in agricultural inputs such as water, fertilizers, and agrochemicals to reduce their environmental burden, whilst also addressing the decreasing land availability in many European countries. Integrated solutions and new technologies to improve plant production, based on knowledge-driven innovations in the farming sector and in agricultural and seed industries, have become the key objectives on the way towards sustainable agriculture (da Silva, 2015; Watt et al., 2020; Morisse et al., 2022).