Journal Focus & Scholarly Coverage
Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Industry (ALFI) is an interdisciplinary international journal dedicated to advancing scholarly knowledge across interconnected agricultural, livestock, food-processing, agribusiness, technological, environmental, and food-system domains. The journal provides a platform for rigorous research addressing the development, transformation, resilience, sustainability, and governance of contemporary agri-food systems.
Integrated Agri-Food Systems Perspective
ALFI approaches agriculture, livestock, and food industries as interconnected components of broader agri-food systems. The journal therefore encourages studies that move beyond isolated production questions and demonstrate meaningful relationships among biological production, animal systems, food processing, technology, supply chains, markets, policy, sustainability, food security, and societal outcomes.
ALFI aims to publish high-quality, original, methodologically rigorous, and internationally relevant scholarship that contributes to the advancement of knowledge and practice across agriculture, livestock production, food science and processing, agribusiness, agri-food technology, sustainability, and food-system governance.
The journal seeks to strengthen dialogue among researchers, practitioners, policymakers, industry stakeholders, and other actors concerned with the production, transformation, distribution, regulation, quality, sustainability, and consumption of agricultural and food products.
Particular emphasis is placed on research that offers conceptual, empirical, methodological, technological, policy, or practical contributions capable of informing sustainable, resilient, innovative, efficient, safe, and inclusive agri-food systems.
ALFI welcomes manuscripts addressing one or more of the following thematic areas. Interdisciplinary studies connecting multiple areas are particularly encouraged when the relationship among the components is theoretically, methodologically, or practically meaningful.
1. Agricultural Production & Sustainable Farming
Crop production, agronomy, horticulture, soil and water management, crop protection, plant nutrition, farming systems, agroecology, regenerative agriculture, conservation agriculture, precision farming, sustainable intensification, climate-smart agriculture, agricultural productivity, and innovations supporting environmentally responsible agricultural production.
2. Livestock Systems & Animal Production
Livestock production systems, animal nutrition, feed science, breeding and genetics, reproductive management, animal growth and productivity, animal welfare, livestock-environment interactions, sustainable livestock management, poultry production, ruminant and non-ruminant systems, and technological innovations supporting animal-production efficiency and sustainability.
3. Food Science, Processing & Quality
Food processing and preservation, food chemistry, food microbiology, food engineering, product development, functional foods, sensory evaluation, food quality, food safety, post-harvest technology, packaging, shelf-life studies, processing efficiency, food innovation, and technologies that improve the quality, safety, functionality, or sustainability of food products.
4. Agri-Food Value Chains, Markets & Agribusiness
Agribusiness management, agricultural economics, farm management, entrepreneurship, commercialization, agricultural marketing, consumer behavior related to agri-food products, supply-chain management, logistics, value-chain development, market access, food distribution, rural enterprise, cooperative systems, competitiveness, and economic transformation within agricultural and food industries.
5. Smart Agriculture & Agri-Food Technology
Digital agriculture, precision technologies, agricultural Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, machine learning, remote sensing, geographic information systems, automation, robotics, sensors, decision-support systems, data-driven farming, digital livestock management, traceability technologies, smart food processing, and other technological innovations with clear applications to agriculture, livestock, or food systems.
6. Sustainability, Climate & Circular Agri-Food Systems
Climate adaptation and mitigation, resource-use efficiency, agricultural sustainability assessment, biodiversity within production landscapes, circular agriculture, circular bioeconomy, agricultural and food waste reduction, by-product utilization, renewable resources, environmental footprints, low-carbon production, ecosystem services, and strategies for sustainable transformation of agri-food systems.
7. Food Systems Governance, Policy & Standards
Agricultural and food policy, food-system governance, regulatory frameworks, quality standards, certification systems, food-safety governance, institutional arrangements, trade and market regulation, sustainability standards, halal food governance and assurance systems, traceability, agricultural development policy, and institutional mechanisms influencing agri-food production and distribution.
8. Food Security & Inclusive Agri-Food Development
Food availability, accessibility, utilization and stability, resilient food systems, smallholder development, rural livelihoods, inclusive value chains, farmer empowerment, gender and social inclusion in agri-food systems, agricultural innovation adoption, community-based food systems, sustainable rural development, and policies or interventions designed to strengthen equitable access to safe and nutritious food.
Interdisciplinary Orientation
Connecting Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Systems
ALFI particularly encourages manuscripts that examine relationships across different stages or dimensions of the agri-food system. Examples include studies connecting agricultural productivity with processing quality, livestock systems with environmental sustainability, technological adoption with farm or supply-chain performance, food processing with market development, or agricultural policy with food-security outcomes.
Interdisciplinary approaches may draw on agricultural science, animal science, food science, environmental science, economics, management, engineering, data science, development studies, policy studies, and related disciplines, provided that the manuscript demonstrates a direct and substantive contribution to the journal's agri-food focus.
International Relevance
Geographic and Scholarly Orientation
ALFI welcomes submissions from researchers worldwide and does not restrict publication according to geographic region. Research conducted within a single country, province, district, institution, farm, enterprise, or community is welcome when the manuscript clearly explains the broader scientific, theoretical, methodological, policy, technological, or practical significance of the findings.
Authors are encouraged to situate locally grounded research within relevant international scholarship and to explain how the findings contribute to wider debates, transferable knowledge, comparative understanding, theory development, policy design, technological innovation, or improved practices across agri-food systems.
Publication Formats
Types of Manuscripts
ALFI primarily publishes original research articles and high-quality review articles. The journal may also consider systematic reviews, meta-analyses, methodological papers, policy analyses, data-driven studies, technical or technological studies, and other scholarly contributions where the manuscript provides a clear contribution to the journal's aims and scope.
Acceptance of a manuscript type remains subject to the journal's editorial requirements, methodological expectations, peer-review process, and assessment of scholarly significance.
Priority for Editorial Consideration
Manuscripts receive stronger editorial consideration when they address a clearly defined and relevant research problem, demonstrate an identifiable contribution to existing knowledge, apply appropriate and transparent methods, engage critically with current international literature, and provide conclusions that are adequately supported by the evidence presented.
ALFI particularly values research that generates implications beyond a narrowly descriptive setting and contributes to sustainable, resilient, technologically innovative, economically viable, safe, and inclusive agri-food systems.
Scope Boundaries
Manuscripts Generally Outside the Scope
ALFI maintains a focused agri-food identity. Manuscripts whose principal subject lies outside agriculture, livestock, food science, agribusiness, food systems, or closely related areas may be declined during editorial screening even when the research is otherwise technically sound.
Clinical and Biomedical Research
Purely clinical, pharmaceutical, medical, or human-health studies without a substantive and clearly demonstrated relationship to agriculture, food systems, food products, nutrition-related food research, or agri-food production are generally outside the journal's scope.
Isolated Veterinary Case Reports
Veterinary case reports focused solely on diagnosis or clinical treatment without clear relevance to livestock production, animal welfare, herd management, food safety, or broader production systems are generally not considered.
General Business, Education, or Social Research
General management, education, communication, or social-science manuscripts are outside scope when they do not demonstrate a direct and substantive connection to agriculture, livestock, food industries, agribusiness, rural development, or agri-food systems.
Unrelated Engineering or Technology
Engineering, computing, artificial intelligence, or technological research without a clear agricultural, livestock, food-processing, supply-chain, or agri-food application is outside the journal's scope.
Purely Descriptive or Low-Contribution Studies
Manuscripts that merely describe a local condition, report routine observations, replicate established findings without sufficient justification, or provide limited analytical and scholarly contribution may be declined even when their topic falls nominally within the journal's subject area.
Scope Fit Does Not Guarantee Publication
A manuscript's thematic compatibility with the journal does not automatically qualify it for peer review or publication. Manuscripts must also satisfy ALFI's requirements for originality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, transparency, scientific quality, appropriate scholarly positioning, and meaningful contribution to knowledge. The Editorial Team may decline manuscripts at the initial screening stage when these requirements are not sufficiently demonstrated.
Scope at a Glance
| Core Orientation |
Integrated and interdisciplinary agri-food systems |
| Agriculture |
Production, sustainability, agronomy, farming systems, technology, and resource management |
| Livestock |
Production systems, nutrition, breeding, welfare, management, and sustainability |
| Food Industry |
Food science, processing, quality, safety, preservation, product innovation, and technology |
| Agribusiness & Value Chains |
Markets, management, entrepreneurship, supply chains, logistics, and commercialization |
| Technology |
Smart agriculture, AI, automation, sensors, digital systems, traceability, and data-driven innovation |
| Sustainability |
Climate resilience, circularity, resource efficiency, environmental performance, and sustainable transformation |
| Governance |
Policy, regulation, standards, certification, food-safety governance, and halal food governance |
| Development & Food Security |
Food security, rural development, inclusive systems, livelihoods, and smallholder transformation |
Scholarly Commitment
ALFI is committed to developing an international scholarly forum for research that improves understanding of how agricultural production, livestock systems, food industries, technology, markets, sustainability, and governance interact within contemporary agri-food systems.
Manuscripts are expected to demonstrate academic rigor, research integrity, international scholarly engagement, and a clear contribution to knowledge or practice. ALFI welcomes high-quality submissions from scholars and research communities worldwide that advance more productive, resilient, sustainable, innovative, safe, and inclusive agri-food systems.