Cultivating Resilience: Crop Adapting to Elevated CO2 and Temperature

Abstract

Rising temperatures and levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are anticipated to have a significant impact on the productivity of agricultural crops. Indeed, the consequences of the resulting climate change on ecosystems, which are interconnected communities of living things and their surroundings, will be profound and intricate. In this respect, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, many plant and animal species may be susceptible to extinction as a result of these environmental changes. As a consequence, adaptation strategies have been proposed to address the impacts of climate change, with these strategies, in agriculture, aiming to reduce or prevent harm from climate change and take advantage of favorable opportunities. It is noted that farmers have historically responded to these changes by adopting new crop varieties and by adjusting their farming practices. Adaptation is a continuous process in agriculture, and an increasing number of agricultural practitioners are now implementing various agronomic modifications to their operations. It is known that, in the pursuit of mitigating and adapting to climate change, agriculture has clearly emerged as a critical domain, with the objective of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) being to increase the resilience of agricultural systems to the impacts of global warming. © 2026 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.