Fit genetics and management to the environment: A framework for climate resilient agriculture

Climate resilience in agriculture is often approached by defining a production target and then modifying genetics, inputs, and management to achieve it. An alternative approach is to begin with the environmental conditions under which production must occur and select genetics and management strategies capable of performing consistently within those conditions. This review examines historical and contemporary examples across crop and livestock systems to illustrate how genetic adaptation, environmental constraints, and management interact to determine agricultural resilience. The Dust Bowl demonstrates the consequences of imposing production practices poorly matched to environmental conditions, whereas the introduction of drought-adapted Russian wheat into the Great Plains illustrates the value of selecting genetics suited to climate limitations. Similar principles are evident in livestock systems, including the trypanotolerance of N'Dama cattle in West Africa and the heat and parasite tolerance contributed by Brahman genetics to cattle production in the southern United States. The diversity of Mexican maize further demonstrates that there is no universally superior genotype independent of environment. Together, these examples suggest that climate resilience should not be defined solely as the ability to maximize production under favorable conditions of equal importance is the capacity to maintain acceptable production, fertility, health, and resource use efficiency when environmental conditions become less favorable. Modern genetic selection and management technologies provide unprecedented opportunities to combine productivity with adaptation. However, continually modifying the environment to accommodate poorly matched genetics may increase biological and economic costs. Climate-resilient agriculture therefore requires greater emphasis on genotype environment management interactions and on consistency of performance across variable conditions. The objective is not lower production, but production that is sustainable, profitable, and biologically compatible with the environments in which crops and livestock must perform.
Keywords: Climate Resilience, Genotype Environment Interaction, Genetic Adaptation Livestock, Crop Production, Sustainable Agriculture.