Abstract. Crops and soils are essential sources of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) from the agriculture landscape. Agricultural management practices, including species choice, tillage, fertilization, irrigation, and cover crop application, affect soil nutrient levels, crop growth, microbial density and activities, and trigger changes in BVOC emission rates from both crop and soil. A better comprehension of the emission processes and controlling factors can improve model representation, reduce uncertainties, and allow more accurate quantitative estimations of agricultural BVOC emissions. We summarized current knowledge on BVOC emissions from common agricultural crops (oilseed rape, wheat, maize), cover crops, and bare soil under different management practices. The current challenges for improving the representation of agricultural BVOC emissions in models and a conceptual model for estimating BVOC emissions from agricultural land surfaces are discussed.