Climate-Adaptive Farming: Strategies for Food Security and Adaptation Models Amid Rising Droughts and Population Pressures

Emerging Biotechnologies and Innovations for Climate-Resilient Agriculture

2026-05-02T06:51:40+00:00

Climate change presents challenges to agriculture globally, necessitating the development of resilient production systems to safeguard food security, farm incomes and environmental sustainability. Global agricultural systems face unprecedented pressure from climate change, population growth, and environmental degradation. This review examines emerging biotechnological innovations—including gene editing via Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-Cas systems, synthetic biology approaches, and novel food production platforms—that hold transformative potential for building climate-resilient food systems. Drawing on literature from 2000 to 2026 sourced from peer-reviewed journals and authoritative international reports, the article synthesises current evidence on drought and heat tolerance engineering, disease resistance, photosynthesis enhancement, biological nitrogen fixation, cellular agriculture, vertical farming, and alternative protein sources. The review also critically evaluates the regulatory frameworks, biosafety considerations, and socioeconomic dimensions that govern the deployment of these technologies, with particular attention to equity and access in developing nations. Findings indicate that whilst individual technologies show considerable promise, their integration within holistic, systems-level approaches will be essential to realise their full potential. Key challenges include regulatory harmonisation, public acceptance, intellectual property barriers, and the need for inclusive innovation frameworks that prioritise smallholder farmers in climate-vulnerable regions. The article concludes by identifying priority areas for future research and policy action necessary to translate laboratory advances into field-scale solutions.

Nitrogen and Nutrient Management in Climate-Smart Agriculture: Pathways to Sustainable Fertiliser Use and Food Security

2026-05-02T06:55:57+00:00

Global agriculture stands at a critical inflection point, where the imperative to feed a growing population collides with mounting environmental constraints arising from excessive and poorly managed nutrient inputs. Nitrogen, the most widely applied macronutrient in modern farming, underpins crop productivity but simultaneously drives greenhouse gas emissions, reactive nitrogen pollution, eutrophication, and biodiversity loss when managed sub-optimally. Despite a growing body of literature, integration across disciplinary silos, including agronomy, soil science, atmospheric chemistry, environmental economics, and policy studies, remains limited. A narrative review was conducted to synthesise current scientific evidence on nitrogen and nutrient management strategies within the framework of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), aiming to identify pathways that enhance food security, mitigate climate change, and reduce environmental footprints. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature, intergovernmental reports, and authoritative databases published between 2000 and 2026, the chapter evaluates the agronomic, technological, and policy dimensions of fertiliser optimisation. Key themes addressed include the global nitrogen cycle and its disruption by anthropogenic inputs, the evolution of precision nutrient management technologies, the role of biological nitrogen fixation and organic amendments, the mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions, and the governance frameworks that enable sustainable nutrient stewardship. The review underscores that no single intervention is universally sufficient; rather, integrated approaches combining site-specific management, advanced sensing technologies, improved fertiliser formulations, circular nutrient economy principles, and enabling policy environments are necessary to reconcile productivity and sustainability goals. The study concludes by identifying persistent knowledge gaps and research priorities, whilst acknowledging the limitations of the evidence base reviewed.

Carbon Sequestration in Agroforestry Systems: Mechanisms, Metrics, and Policy Perspectives

2026-05-02T06:58:24+00:00

Carbon sequestration through agroforestry and sustainable land management has emerged as one of the most promising natural climate solutions available to humanity in the context of accelerating global warming. This narrative review synthesises the current state of knowledge on the mechanisms, rates, and co-benefits of carbon storage in agroforestry systems, covering both above-ground biomass and soil organic carbon dynamics. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature published between 2005 and 2026, alongside authoritative institutional reports, this chapter examines how the deliberate integration of trees with crops and livestock landscapes enhances carbon stocks while delivering simultaneous benefits for biodiversity, food security, water regulation, and rural livelihoods. The review further explores measurement and monitoring frameworks, including allometric approaches, eddy covariance techniques, and emerging remote sensing methodologies, that underpin credible carbon accounting in complex agroforestry landscapes. Key drivers of and barriers to the upscaling of agroforestry as a mitigation strategy are examined, with attention to land tenure, market access, extension services, and payment-for-ecosystem-services schemes. The chapter also situates agroforestry within the broader landscape of sustainable land management practices — including conservation agriculture, integrated soil fertility management, and avoided deforestation — to assess relative contributions to national and global climate targets. Gaps in knowledge, including long-term stock permanence, accurate baseline establishment, leakage effects, and social equity dimensions, are identified. The review concludes that agroforestry and sustainable land management represent cost-effective, multi-functional strategies that merit substantially greater investment and policy support if the goals of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are to be achieved.

Drought-Resilient Crops: Integrating Genetic Resources, Breeding, and Genomic Technologies from Genes to Field Performance

2026-05-02T07:01:36+00:00

Drought stress is the most prevalent abiotic constraint threatening global food security, with its frequency and intensity projected to increase substantially under ongoing climate change scenarios. The development of drought-resilient crop varieties through the exploitation of diverse genetic resources, innovative breeding methodologies, and cutting-edge molecular tools represents a critical strategy for sustaining agricultural productivity in water-limited environments. This review synthesises current understanding across three interconnected dimensions: the characterisation and mobilisation of genetic resources, including crop wild relatives, landraces, and structured germplasm collections; the advancement of classical and modern breeding platforms, encompassing high-throughput phenotyping and selection strategies; and the deployment of molecular approaches, including quantitative trait loci mapping, marker-assisted and genomic selection, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing. Key regulatory genes and signalling networks—particularly those governing osmotic adjustment, abscisic acid signalling, and transcription factor activity—are critically appraised. Case studies in major staple crops, including maize, wheat, rice, sorghum, and pearl millet, illustrate how these approaches converge to deliver improved varieties for farmers in drought-prone regions. The review further examines the persistent gaps between laboratory discoveries and field-level deployment. It discusses future priorities for integrating multi-omics data, precision breeding, and digital agricultural technologies to accelerate the development of drought-resilient varieties. By providing an integrative overview from genes to fields, this article aims to support researchers, plant breeders, and policymakers in identifying the most promising and actionable pathways towards drought resilience in crops.

Climate-Adaptive Mixed Farming Systems: Integrated Crop: Livestock Pathways for Resilience to Heat and Drought Stress

2026-05-02T07:05:54+00:00

Climate change poses an escalating threat to global food security, particularly through intensifying heat stress and drought events that compromise both crop productivity and livestock performance in mixed farming systems. This review synthesises current evidence on the mechanisms by which combined heat and drought stressors affect integrated crop–livestock systems, and critically evaluates the adaptation strategies that have been proposed or implemented across diverse agro-ecological zones. A systematic search of the peer-reviewed literature was conducted using the following academic databases: Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and PubMed. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature published primarily between 2000 and 2026, the review examines physiological responses of livestock to thermal stress, crop–pasture interactions under water deficit, and the synergistic vulnerabilities that emerge when multiple stressors co-occur. The paper evaluates a spectrum of adaptation pathways—including heat-tolerant breed selection, modified grazing management, agroforestry integration, supplementary irrigation, and diversified crop–forage rotations—and assesses their efficacy in reducing production losses and sustaining livelihoods. Particular attention is paid to the role of systemic integration, whereby crop residues, by-products, and shared water resources are managed collectively to enhance whole-farm resilience. The review also addresses socio-economic and policy dimensions, recognising that technical adaptation options are insufficient without enabling institutional frameworks. Evidence gaps are identified, and a forward-looking research agenda is outlined to guide future inquiry. It is concluded that no single intervention is adequate; rather, portfolios of complementary, context-specific measures—embedded within supportive policy environments—offer the most promising pathway to climate-adaptive mixed farming under heat and drought stress.

Doubled Haploid Technologies in the Era of Gene Editing: Advances, Integration, and Prospects for Accelerated Crop Improvement

2026-05-02T07:09:26+00:00

Doubled haploid (DH) technology has long been valued in plant breeding for its capacity to generate completely homozygous lines within a single generation, compressing the timescale required for cultivar development by several years relative to conventional selfing programmes. The recent emergence of transformative gene editing platforms—most notably CRISPR-Cas9 and its diverse derivatives—has created new paradigms for precision crop improvement, and the intersection of DH technology with targeted genomic modification now represents one of the most dynamic frontiers in applied plant genetics. Despite the advances, practical integration of DH and gene editing technologies faces substantive obstacles. This review presents a comprehensive narrative synthesis of the current state of DH technologies in the context of contemporary gene editing, examining the mechanistic foundations of haploid induction, the principal methods of DH production, including anther culture, isolated microspore culture, wide hybridisation, in vivo haploid inducer systems and centromere-mediated genome elimination, and the evolution of gene editing tools from site-specific nucleases through base editors to prime editors. The integration of these two technological domains is critically reviewed, with particular focus on the use of microspores and isolated haploid cells as substrates for CRISPR-mediated editing, the haploid inducer-mediated editing (HI-Edit) approach developed in maize, and the engineering of centromeric histone variants for bespoke haploid induction. Applications across major cereal crops, horticultural species and emerging crops are discussed, together with the regulatory frameworks governing the deployment of genome-edited DH lines and the ethical considerations associated with equitable access. Key challenges, including genotype-dependent recalcitrance, reduced editing efficiency in gametophytic cells, chimerism, off-target mutation management and chromosomal instability during genome doubling, are identified and evaluated. A synthesis of the evidence suggests that the convergence of DH and gene editing technologies holds substantial promise for delivering improved cultivars with enhanced yield, stress resilience and nutritional quality within compressed breeding timescales, and future directions, including integration with speed breeding, single-cell genomics and artificial intelligence-assisted breeding design, are considered.

Integrated Pest and Disease Management in Sustainable Farming Systems: Ecological Foundations, Technological Innovations, and Adoption Pathways

2026-05-02T07:12:09+00:00

Sustainable farming systems require crop protection strategies that conserve biodiversity, protect human health, and maintain economic viability while limiting yield losses from insects, mites, nematodes, and plant pathogens. Integrated pest and disease management offers such a pathway by replacing single-input thinking with a systems approach that prioritises prevention, ecological regulation, monitoring, and carefully targeted interventions. This review synthesises the contemporary evidence on how integrated management can be designed and implemented across diverse farming systems. It traces the conceptual evolution from the integrated control paradigm to modern whole-system approaches, and then examines the ecological and epidemiological processes that determine pest outbreaks, disease epidemics, and resistance evolution. Particular attention is given to preventive design through crop diversification, habitat manipulation, soil health management, resistant cultivars, and clean planting material; to advances in monitoring through field scouting, forecasting, imaging, molecular diagnostics, and digital surveillance; and to tactical interventions including biological control, biopesticides, selective chemical inputs, and emerging RNA-based tools. The literature underpinning this review was identified through structured searches of major scientific databases. The review argues that sustainable crop protection depends less on substituting one product for another than on combining agronomic, biological, technological, and institutional measures in a coherent decision framework. It also shows that successful integration is shaped by production context, from broadacre arable systems and protected horticulture to smallholder and organic farming. Climate change, global trade, and accelerating resistance evolution make this integration more urgent, but adoption continues to be constrained by fragmented advisory systems, weak incentives, and uneven access to knowledge-intensive tools. The paper concludes that the future of integrated pest and disease management lies in redesigning farming systems around resilience, supported by better diagnostics, stronger ecological literacy, and policy environments that reward long-term prevention rather than routine curative input use.

Future Horizons: A Transformation Pathway Towards a Climate-Resilient Food System and a Roadmap for Science and Policy Integration

2026-05-02T07:15:28+00:00

Global food systems face an unprecedented convergence of interconnected stressors: accelerating climate change, rapid biodiversity loss, escalating demographic pressure, entrenched socioeconomic inequalities, geopolitical instability, and the deepening ecological overshoot of planetary boundaries. Without deliberate, large-scale structural transformation, food insecurity is projected to intensify substantially across all world regions by 2050, with the most severe consequences concentrated in tropical and sub-tropical developing economies where adaptive capacity remains most constrained. This review synthesises current scientific understanding of the pathways, enabling conditions, and barriers associated with constructing climate-resilient food systems by 2050, drawing on peer-reviewed literature published between 2000 and 2026 and authoritative intergovernmental reports. The paper examines the biophysical and socioeconomic dimensions of climate risk to food systems; evaluates emerging technological, agroecological, digital, and governance innovations; identifies critical knowledge gaps related to systems-level integration, equity, dietary transition, and maladaptation risk; and proposes an integrated science–policy roadmap that places transformative adaptation and mitigation at the centre of food system governance. The synthesis reveals that piecemeal, sector-by-sector approaches are fundamentally insufficient to meet the dual challenge of food security and planetary sustainability: only coherent, cross-scalar, politically committed, and equity-centred action can deliver the systemic change required. Key priority areas include scaling investment in climate-smart and agroecological production systems, strengthening the integration of indigenous and local knowledge, reforming environmentally distorting agricultural subsidy structures, accelerating equitable digital agri-food transitions, and embedding food system resilience within legally binding international climate commitments and national development planning frameworks.

Hermetic Storage Technology for Protection of Stored Grains: A Review

2026-05-18T11:30:52+00:00

Hermetic storage technology provides an ideal and environmentally friendly solution for preserving stored grains against insect pests, rodents and microbial attacks. The review examines the effectiveness of hermetic storage technology for the protection of stored grains. Such systems can suppress the development of pests and fungi by ensuring an airtight environments that decrease oxygen content and raises carbon dioxide levels. Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags, metal silos, and hermetic cocoons are some of the technologies that have been effective in reducing post-harvest losses without compromising the quality of grain and the viability of seeds. Hermetic storage means that the food is safe and that it will also be eco-friendly, besides the fact that it eradicates the use of chemical pesticides. This technology has great potential and could be used to improve food security by the adoption of safe grain storage methods for the farmers, especially small holders, despite the related issue of awareness and initial cost.

Precision Agriculture and Digital Technologies: A Comprehensive Review of IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and Remote Sensing Applications in Modern Farming Systems

2026-05-27T11:18:06+00:00

The convergence of digital technologies with agricultural practices has catalysed a paradigm shift in contemporary farming systems, giving rise to precision agriculture as a transformative approach to sustainable food production. The technological foundations of precision agriculture rest upon three interconnected pillars: the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and remote sensing. This comprehensive review examines the integration of Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and remote sensing technologies in precision agriculture, synthesising current knowledge and identifying future research trajectories. The proliferation of smart sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles, satellite imaging systems, and machine learning algorithms has enabled unprecedented capabilities for real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and automated decision-making in agricultural contexts. Through systematic analysis of peer-reviewed literature published between 2005 and 2025, this review evaluates the technological frameworks, practical applications, and implementation challenges associated with digital agriculture. Key findings indicate that IoT-enabled sensor networks have achieved water savings of up to 30% through precision irrigation management, whilst AI-driven crop yield prediction models demonstrate coefficient of determination values exceeding 0.85. Remote sensing technologies, particularly when integrated with machine learning algorithms, have attained disease detection accuracies ranging from 81% to 95% in field conditions. However, significant barriers to widespread adoption persist, including high infrastructure costs, limited digital literacy among farming communities, data interoperability challenges, and concerns regarding data privacy and ownership. Future developments in deep learning, reinforcement learning, and digital twin technologies are expected to further enhance decision-making capabilities in agriculture. This review provides critical insights into the current state of precision agriculture technologies, identifies research gaps, and proposes future directions for advancing sustainable and efficient agricultural production systems in the face of growing global food security challenges.