Extreme shifts in water availability linked to global climate change are impacting crops worldwide. This study examines effects of water availability and pest pressures on the growth and functional quality of tea, the world's most consumed beverage after water. Results show that higher water availability and pest pressures significantly increased the growth of new leaves while their effect on tea quality varied with individual secondary metabolites. Findings point to the fascinating dynamics of climate change effects on tea plants with offsetting interactions between rainfall and pest pressures and the need for future climate studies to examine interactive environmental effects.

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Recent analyses indicate that global fruit and vegetable (F&V) production will need to increase by 50%–150% by 2050 in order to achieve sustainable and healthy diets for 10 billion people. Although global production of F&V has grown by 50% during the last two decades alone, simply scaling up current systems of F&V production, supply chains, and consumption will inevitably worsen environmental and socioeconomic tradeoffs. This article examines three examples of important F&V—avocados, leafy greens, and tomatoes—to assess the global challenge of meeting dietary recommendations at affordable prices to consumers while sustaining producer livelihoods and minimizing environmental damage. These three cases highlight key characteristics of F&V systems that make the challenge of sustainable expansion especially difficult: knowledge-, input-, and labor-intensive production, high rates of food loss and waste, and low affordability to consumers relative to less nutrient-dense food groups. Our analysis shows that only by investing in innovations that increase diversity, integrate technology, and improve equity will truly sustainable expansion of F&V systems be possible.

Management of crop diversity for improved agroecosystem functioning can provide economic co-benefits to farmers. Yet, there remain critical gaps in understanding how farm management practices evolve through agroecological transitions and how agroecological practices affect socioeconomic outcomes such as income and working conditions. We conducted a case study of farms transitioning from conventional tobacco production to diversified agroecological management in a participatory certification network in southern Brazil. We purposively sampled farms along a transition gradient and conducted crop diversity and management surveys and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with household members. Using these data, we assessed indicators of ecological management, income, and working conditions across three transition stages-conventional, transitioning, and agroecological. We found that ecological management indicators increased in magnitude and evenness by transition stage, as transitioning farmers increasingly used practices to support ecological complexity. Agroecological farmers utilized system redesign, a transformative approach to agroecosystem management, rather than efficiency-based or substitution-oriented practices adopted by conventional and transitioning farmers. While farms in transition reported more difficult working conditions and lower incomes, agroecological farmers had similar per capita working hours and improved work quality and occupational safety relative to conventional farmers in the region. On a per capita basis, experienced agroecological farmers earned similar net agricultural incomes and higher net household incomes than conventional farmers, by reducing agricultural expenses and diversifying their markets and livelihoods. Our study is the first to our knowledge to use a transition gradient approach to examine how agroecological transition stage affects both ecological and socioeconomic indicators on farms, providing insights into the processes and pathways by which farmers overcome challenges during transitions. Results highlight the potential for stable profits and improved working conditions on farms following agroecological transitions, within a supportive policy and market context.

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