Creating resilient crops to cope with the climate crisis

We all rely on agriculture for our food, but the escalating climate crisis is placing increasing stress on the world’s crops. 

Modern crop varieties, domesticated to maximize yield and harvest efficiency, lack the genetic flexibility to adapt to the environmental challenges now reshaping our planet. 

Creating climate-resilient crops 

As temperature extremes, erratic rainfall, and other climate-driven stressors reduce output, food supplies dwindle and prices rise. Converting more land to agriculture is unsustainable, so we must instead alter our crops to withstand the conditions we have created.

“Agriculture is highly vulnerable to climate change, and the intensity and frequency of extreme events is only going to increase,” said lead author Sergey Shabala, a biologist at the University of Western Australia. 

“Both sustainable agricultural production and global food security will be critically dependent on our ability to create climate-resilient crops.”

Interconnected challenges for crops

The current global food system relies heavily on monocultures and intensive use of fertilizers. While this has met the world’s food demands for decades, it is now recognized as environmentally harmful. 

Fertilizer production damages ecosystems, and their application on fields leads to runoff that pollutes waterways. 

Meanwhile, the climate crisis reduces the yield of key staple crops by exposing them to harsher conditions. If high temperatures do not kill plants, they still lower yields, prompting farmers to rely on irrigation water that often contains more salt than ideal freshwater resources.

This higher salt content in irrigated soils reduces the productivity of most crops. Moreover, flooding caused by extreme weather events leaves roots submerged in low-oxygen conditions, further diminishing yields. 

Achieving a sustainable diet 

These interconnected problems underscore the complexity of achieving a sustainable diet in the face of scientific, social, and political challenges.

“The problem of a sustainable diet has scientific, social, and political facets,” said Shabala. “A broader acceptance of novel technologies and a willingness to accept some cultural shifts is needed.” 

“A good example may be rice: it is a main staple food for a high percentage of the population, but many parts of the world may become unsuitable for its production. A switch to other, more resilient, crops may be needed, and I am not sure the public is ready to accept it.”

Creating crops that can cope

Many wild plants, including the ancestors and relatives of today’s staple crops, are inherently better equipped to handle environmental extremes. To help cultivated plants cope with the climate crisis, we need to bring these resilient traits back into domesticated species.

There are two main approaches to achieve this. The first is to introduce stress-resistance genes from closely related plants or reactivate dormant genes within existing crops. This approach seems straightforward, but transferring multiple traits into a single high-yield crop is challenging. 

The second approach involves domesticating entirely new species that are naturally resilient but produce less food initially. Adapting these wild plants to modern farming demands a careful and possibly lengthy process.

Uncertain paths and public resistance

It remains unclear which strategy – gene introduction into established crops or domesticating wild species – will eventually prevail. 

However, both approaches share certain requirements: cutting-edge gene-editing and precision breeding methods, backed by accurate cell-based phenotyping and, crucially, public acceptance of new crop varieties.

“One of the current challenges is to match recent scientific advances with public perception of new technologies,” cautioned Shabala. 

“The issue is highly politicized and there are significant commercial interests involved. And due to a lack of specific knowledge, the general public cannot distinguish the subtle differences amongst various technologies, and relies on opinions in the media.”

Embracing change for a sustainable future

Developing climate-resilient crops involves technological breakthroughs and social willingness to embrace them. Whether by gene-editing existing crops or domesticating new species, our success depends on navigating scientific, regulatory, and cultural hurdles. 

The rising global population and the intensifying climate crisis leave us with no choice but to adapt our agriculture to these changing realities.

By investing in research, improving public understanding, and supporting innovation in both plant genetics and farming practices, we can move toward a future where climate-resilient crops ensure not only that we continue to feed everyone, but also that we do so sustainably in the world we have altered.

The study is published in the journal Frontiers in Science.

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