Opinion: Resilient plants for a sustainable future

Anthropogenic climate change has introduced tremendous uncertainty about the future of all life on Earth. As primary producers, threats to plants are transduced up the food chain to their consumers, including people, which is why there is a great need to develop resilient plants that are able to sustain us in spite of these new challenges. A new article by Rhee et al. lays out a set of recommendations, addressing both plant breeding and plant cropping systems, to accelerate the development of climate resilient crops. First, they call for greater international cooperation particularly between the Global North and Global South, but also increased public-private cooperation. Second, they argue that research must leverage the power of reductionist tools such as biochemistry and genetics to address plants as complex systems that live in complex environments. They advocate for a connected global network of outdoor phenotyping facilities where genotypes can be tested in diverse climates. Third, the authors call for greater communication and cooperation between those who study plants in the lab, the field, and the farm. Their fourth recommendation is to address public concerns about new technologies through better communication and public engagement. And finally, they observe that regulation of new crops must be science-based, rapid, and streamlined. (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching.bsky.social @PlantTeaching) Trends Plant Sci. 10.1016/j.tplants.2024.11.001