Journal of Global Ecology and Environment

Climate change is increasingly affecting row-crop production systems, which are also sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This critical narrative review examines the interactions among GHG emissions, climate change, and row-crop production, specifically for maize, wheat, rice and soybean. The review brings together peer-reviewed evidence published primarily since 2015 to analyse key emission pathways, stressors, physiological and yield responses, adaptation options, methodological and context-specific considerations and reported results and outcomes. The evidence demonstrates that climate impacts are highly context-specific and that compound stresses and elevated atmospheric CO₂, drought, heat and flooding affect different crops in different ways, depending on their developmental stage, genotype, and environmental conditions. N₂O is a significant GHG emitted from upland systems due to nitrogen fertilisation and soil processes, and CH₄ is a significant emission pathway in flooded rice systems. GHG results, however, are quite sensitive to the type of GHG being reported, system boundaries, environmental conditions, and study timeframe. Resilience can be improved through adaptation strategies such as the use of improved cultivars, planting-date adjustments, irrigation and water management, conservation methods, diversification, and improved nitrogen management, but these are rarely effective in all situations. A number of strategies also involve significant trade-offs, such as higher N₂O emissions resulting from water management practices that reduce methane emissions and higher energy-related emissions from irrigation. The overall assessment is that climate resilience is not necessarily a property of individual practices, but rather of the entire production system and its context. Long-term, multi-location, multi-factor studies that include productivity, GHG emissions, water use, soil carbon and economic outcomes are needed, with a focus on under-represented regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. Climate adaptation policies should, for this reason, shift from mandating universal recommendations to combining practices in an integrated way for farmers in the specific locations and conditions in which they operate, to achieve a balance between productivity, resilience, environmental performance and farmer welfare.