Agricultural Soil Science in a Changing Climate: Soil Health, Carbon Cycling, Nutrient Dynamics and Agroecosystem Resilience

Climate warming is intensifying the concurrence of heat stress, drought and water scarcity, but proposed responses are often evaluated at incompatible biological and hydrological scales. This critical narrative review integrates crop physiology, breeding, soil management, rainwater capture, irrigation engineering, digital decision support, cropping-system design and water governance. Literature published primarily from 2000 to 4 July 2026 was selected through transparent relevance and quality criteria, with foundational sources retained where necessary. The evidence indicates that no single technology reliably creates water-smart production. Heat and drought interact through stomatal regulation, canopy temperature, phenology and reproductive sensitivity; consequently, trait and management performance is scenario dependent. Soil cover, infiltration improvement, context-matched cultivars, timely establishment, supplemental irrigation and well-scheduled deficit irrigation can raise yield stability, although benefits vary with soil, stress timing and implementation quality. Pressurised irrigation improves control but does not necessarily conserve water at basin scale because return flows, crop expansion and rebound pumping alter net depletion. Digital tools are valuable when calibrated, actionable and evaluated against current practice, yet their effect is constrained by data quality, connectivity and unequal capacity to respond. The strongest strategy is a diagnosed portfolio that combines genetic, agronomic and engineering measures with salinity management, energy safeguards and enforceable limits on consumptive use. Evaluation should jointly consider yield stability, farm income, water depletion, soil condition, energy, equity and environmental flows. Research priorities include realistic compound-stress trials, farm-to-basin water accounting, prospective decision-support evaluations and governance experiments that distinguish plot efficiency from genuine water savings.