Beyond yields: Climate change effects on specialty crop quality and agroecological management

Abstract

Climate change is impacting the sustainability of food systems through shifts in natural and human dimensions of agroecosystems that influence farmer livelihoods, consumer choices, and food security. This paper highlights the need for climate studies on specialty crops to focus not only on yields, but also on quality, as well as the ability of agroecological management to buffer climate effects on quality parameters. Crop quality refers to phytonutrient and secondary metabolite profiles and associated health and sensory properties that influence consumer buying decisions. Through two literature reviews, we provide examples of specialty crops that are vulnerable to climate effects on quality and examples of climate-resilient agroecological strategies. A range of specialty crops including fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, stimulants, and herbs were identified to respond to climate variables with changes in quality. The review on climate-resilient strategies to mitigate effects on crop quality highlighted a major gap in the literature. However, agricultural diversification emerged as a promising strategy for climate resilience more broadly and highlights the need for future research to assess the potential of diversified agroecosystems to buffer climate effects on crop quality. We integrate the concepts from our literature review within a socio-ecological systems framework that takes into account feedbacks between crop quality, consumer responses, and agroecosystem management. The presented framework is especially useful for two themes in agricultural development and marketing, nutrition-sensitive agriculture and terroir, for informing the design of climate-change resilient specialty crop systems focused on management of quality and other ecosystem services towards promoting environmental and human wellbeing.

Over‐accumulation of abscisic acid in transgenic tomato plants increases the risk of hydraulic failure

“…Whereas food demands are growing due to the increasing world population, crop production and quality have suffered from increasing temperatures and considerable shifts in precipitation patterns (Ahmed & Stepp, ; Porter et al, ; Schauberger et al, ). For example, Lesk, Rowhani, and Ramankutty () showed that droughts and extreme heat events between 1964 and 2007 reduced global cereal production by ca.…”

Perceptions, Experiences, and Priorities Supporting Agroecosystem Management Decisions Differ among Agricultural Producers, Consultants, and Researchers

“…The design and management of sustainable agroecosystems requires shifting from an industrial agriculture paradigm focused on yield, returns, and efficiency maximization to one that aims at jointly enhancing the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of the food system [33][34][35]. In this process, assessing the perceptions, experiences, and priorities underpinning agricultural professionals' decisions is critical to develop alternative extension programs that will facilitate the Indicator subdomains for consultants, the only stakeholder group positively associated with S1, included having experience with no-till practices, adding fertilizer on the basis of soil test results, obtaining farming information from field demonstrations, internet resources, and training workshops ( Table 3).…”

Vulnerability of California specialty crops to projected mid-century temperature changes

“…A database aggregating known climate relationships for specialty crops would be useful. Ideally, such data would include crucial aspects of crop quality as well as yield (Ahmed and Stepp 2016) for sensitive crops such as wine grapes (Duchene et al 2010). These data could inform qualitative investigations of vulnerability and help parameterize quantitative, process-based simulation models to predict the growth and yield of specialty crops under different conditions.…”