Abstract
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.
Highlights
Climate change is impacting the sustainability of food systems globally and is presenting challenges and opportunities for farmer livelihoods, markets, and food security (Wheeler and von Braun, 2013)
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 on yields, and on quality, as well as the ability of agroecological management to buffer climate effects on quality parameters
We summarized strategies identified in our literature review on agroecosystem management to mitigate climate risk in a conceptual model on producer responses to climate change (Figure 3).This conceptual model emphasizes the inherent nature of humans to constantly experiment and innovate in agroecosystems, even when environmental conditions are relatively stable (Stepp et al, 2003)
Summary
Climate change is impacting the sustainability of food systems globally and is presenting challenges and opportunities for farmer livelihoods, markets, and food security (Wheeler and von Braun, 2013). The goal of this paper is to highlight the need for climate studies on specialty crops to focus on yields, and on quality within a socio-ecological systems framework (Ostrom, 2009; Mertz et al, 2009; Walker et al, 2006; Cumming et al, 2005; Folke et al, 2004; Abel and Stepp, 2003; Stepp et al, 2003) that links biophysical components of agroecosystems with social components and assesses dynamic feedbacks between the two (Ahmed et al, 2014a; Bergamini et al, 2013; Kellogg et al, 2010; McKey et al, 2010). Our integrative framework has tremendous applicability in the emerging area of nutrition-sensitive agriculture for addressing food security issues of inadequate dietary quality
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
