Mitigating Climate Risks in Fruit and Vegetable Production: Physiological, Agronomic and Technological Innovations

Abstract

Climate change represents one of the gravest systemic threats to global food security, with fruit and vegetable production ranking amongst the most climatically sensitive sectors of modern agriculture. Rising temperatures, intensified drought, erratic precipitation patterns, elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, and heightened frequency of extreme weather events are collectively diminishing yield potential, degrading nutritional quality, and narrowing viable production windows across diverse horticultural systems worldwide. This review synthesises current scientific knowledge on the physiological, agronomic, and technological dimensions of climate risk mitigation in fruit and vegetable production. This review was conducted through systematic searches of peer-reviewed literature using four academic databases: Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Boolean operators were applied consistently throughout, and the search was restricted to articles published in English between 1996 and 2026. The physiological basis of climate stress responses—including heat shock protein induction, stomatal regulation, reactive oxygen species signalling, and reproductive failure under thermal stress—is examined in relation to the key horticultural crops most threatened by continued warming. Agronomic strategies encompassing deficit irrigation, soil organic matter enhancement, mulching, adjusted planting calendars, and crop diversification are evaluated for their capacity to buffer production systems against climate variability. Furthermore, the review interrogates emerging technological innovations, including precision agriculture enabled by Internet-of-Things sensors and artificial intelligence, protected cultivation under controlled environments, CRISPR-mediated genome editing for stress-tolerant cultivar development, and the application of biostimulants as eco-compatible plant protectants. The evidence synthesised here underscores that no single strategy is sufficient to address the multidimensional challenges posed by a warming climate; rather, an integrated framework combining physiological understanding, adaptive agronomy, and technological advancement is essential for securing the future of horticultural production. Policy coherence, equitable access to innovation, and smallholder inclusion are identified as indispensable social dimensions of effective climate adaptation in horticulture.