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Sustainable Cropping Systems Under a Changing Climate

  • 1st Edition - June 1, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Editor: Mukhtar Ahmed
  • Language: English

Sustainable Cropping Systems Under a Changing Climate explores how climate change is reshaping agriculture and highlights the urgent need for resilient, adaptive, and sustainable f… Read more

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Description

Sustainable Cropping Systems Under a Changing Climate explores how climate change is reshaping agriculture and highlights the urgent need for resilient, adaptive, and sustainable farming practices. As extreme weather, rising temperatures, and resource pressures threaten food security, this volume offers practical pathways to transform agricultural systems.

Bringing together leading research, real-world case studies, and innovative strategies, this book addresses vulnerabilities and opportunities in modern farming. It covers sustainability principles, climate-smart practices, and the roles of soil health, biodiversity, conservation agriculture, organic farming, agroforestry, regenerative approaches, and plant–microbe interactions in enhancing resilience. Special focus is given to intensive systems such as rice–wheat and rainfed agriculture, particularly in the Global South.

With an interdisciplinary approach and emphasis on both scientific evidence and practical application, this volume bridges a critical gap by supporting informed decision-making at farm, institutional, and policy levels. It is a timely resource for researchers, agronomists, extension professionals, and others seeking to future-proof agriculture through nature-based and technological solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation.

Key features

  • Assesses energy use and carbon footprints across cropping systems, enabling sustainability benchmarking and reduced impacts
  • Provides yield gap analyses and vulnerability assessments under climatic extremes, offering insights for optimizing fragile agroecosystems
  • Evaluates emerging technologies such as biochar and regenerative agriculture, equipping stakeholders with tools for climate mitigation and soil restoration
  • Integrates the water–food–energy nexus and low-input strategies, promoting efficient farming and improved livelihoods in resource-limited regions

Readership

Researchers and advanced students in agriculture and crop sciences. Agricultural research institutes and universities, policymakers, and stakeholders in the sector.

Table of contents

1. Climate change and global cropping systems

2. Principles of sustainable cropping systems

3. Rainfed intensive cropping systems

4. Climate sensitivity of intensive rice–wheat systems

5. Energy and carbon footprint of diversified rainfed cropping systems

6. Productivity, profitability, and energy use efficiency of cropping systems under different tillage regimes

7. Impact of climate change on soil activity (nitrifying, denitrifying) and other interactions in different cropping systems

8. Modeling soil carbon accumulation in different cropping systems

9. A yield gap analysis to assess vulnerability of different cropping systems to climatic extremes

10. Weed management across cropping systems: current challenges and future prospects

11. Organic farming for mitigation of climate change impacts

12. Designing innovative cropping systems to meet sustainable development goals

13. Diversified cropping systems with complementary root growth strategies for climate change adaptation

14. Evaluation of climate-resilient agricultural practices in different cropping systems of the Indian subcontinent

15. Potential of strip cropping systems as climate-resilient cropping systems

16. Water–energy–food nexus of different cropping systems

17. Importance of soil health for climate-resilient cropping systems

18. Regenerative agriculture

19. Climate-resilient technologies for sustainable cropping systems

20. Transformative adaptation: from climate-smart to climate-resilient cropping systems

21. Identification of low-water-demand cropping systems to support water resource conservation

22. Carbon sequestration potential of different cropping systems

23. Evaluation of agronomic Interventions for the adaptation and mitigation of climate change impacts in different cropping systems

24. Biochar use for the mitigation of climate change impacts in different cropping systems: a case study of rice–wheat systems

25. Building resilience for food and nutrition security: focusing on low-input cropping systems

26. Unlocking the potential of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria on different cropping systems

27. Systems-based ecological approaches for integrated and resilient weed management

28. Investigation of diversified cropping systems for climate resilience

29. Models evaluation in diversified cropping systems

30. Integrated pest management in different cropping systems

31. Integrated disease management in different cropping systems

32. Robust cropping systems to tackle biotic stress in a changing climate

33. Harnessing soil carbon sequestration to address climate change challenges in different cropping systems

34. Sustainability, productivity, profitability, and nutritional diversity of different cropping systems: a case study

35. Studying the role of long fallow as an adaptation strategy to climate change in dryland cropping systems

36. Beneficial microbes for climate-resilient cropping systems

37. Integrating intensive livestock and cropping systems: sustainable design and location

38. Enhancing the climate resilience of cropping systems

39. The role of modeling in adapting and building the climate resilience of cropping systems

40. How conservation agriculture buffers the impacts of climate change

41. Conservation agriculture as a climate change adaption strategy: a case study of the Mediterranean region

42. Application of biochar as a circular economy practice for improving resilient agroecosystems

43. Agroforestry solutions for buffering climate variability and adapting to change

44. Channeling the future? The use of seasonal climate forecasts in climate adaptation

45. Agricultural adaptation to climate change: new approaches to knowledge and learning

46. What factors dictate coping strategies for extreme climate events? The case of farmers in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: June 1, 2026
  • Language: English

About the editor

MA

Mukhtar Ahmed

Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed has served for over two decades at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, where he is recognized as a senior agronomist, climate change expert, and crop modeler. His research focuses on climate variability, IoT applications, and impacts of climate change on crop ecology, physiology, cropping systems, and rainfed farming. Expert in process-based modeling and remote sensing, employing APSIM, DSSAT, CropSyst, STICS, and EPIC to advance climate-resilient strategies, he has been listed among the world’s top 2% of scientists annually since 2020. He has collaborated with institutions in Australia, Sweden, South Korea, and the United States, contributing to REACCH and AgMIP, and continues to guide global strategies for agricultural climate adaptation.

Affiliations and expertise
Assistant Professor, Department of Agronomy, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan