In a series of articles published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, scientists and researchers explore the intricate relationship between climate change and plant cultivation and propose innovative solutions to enhance the resilience of crops and their carbon-capture potential. The collection, summarized by Editors Pamela Ronald and Joanna Clarke, delves into the challenges and opportunities presented by climate change in the realm of agriculture.

As climate change continues to alter weather patterns and soil health, the need for resilient crop production has never been more urgent. Industry leaders, including Catherine Feuillet, emphasize the importance of fostering robust public-private partnerships to expedite breakthroughs in crop research in a bid to meet the agricultural demands of a growing global population.

‍Megan Matthews, in her perspective, addresses the question of how to sustainably feed the world in the face of climate change. She suggests that by engineering photosynthesis to enhance carbon capture, we can not only mitigate the effects of climate change but also boost food production.

‍Jennifer Brophy's article explores the potential of synthetic biology in creating climate-resilient crops and shaping the future of agriculture, provided it gains public acceptance. She posits that this could be a viable solution to counter the anticipated decline in agricultural productivity due to climate change.

‍Noah Fierer, in his perspective, discusses the possibility of manipulating the microbiome of cropland soils to hasten soil carbon sequestration. He outlines the steps necessary to develop, implement, and validate such microbial-based strategies.

‍Kenneth McNally, in his community page, underscores the genetic potential of rice, among all crop species, for adaptation to climate change. He highlights the critical role of Genebank accessions in developing stress-tolerant rice varieties and introduces new tools from the International Rice Research Institute to expedite the identification and deployment of genes that confer climate-change resilience.

‍Patrick Shih, in his essay, argues that our current understanding of carbon cycling in the biosphere is qualitative and incomplete, which hampers our ability to engineer effective solutions to climate change. He suggests that the key contributions of plant synthetic biology will be in enabling predictive understanding, which is crucial for designing target genotypes.

‍Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra’s essay discusses the reduced genetic diversity in cultivated species compared to their wild relatives. He advocates for the use of traditional varieties as a bridge between wild relatives and modern cultivars to enhance genetic diversity in crops.

The collection of articles underscores that as the climate changes, so will our relationship with the plants we rely on for food, medicine, shelter, fuel, and clothing. It explores strategies to help plants adapt to a changing climate, including ancient and modern breeding techniques, genome engineering, synthetic biology, and microbiome engineering.