Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is widely promoted as an approach for reorienting agricultural development under the realities of climate change. Prioritising research-for-development activities is crucial, given the need to utilise scarce resources as effectively as possible. However, no framework exists for assessing and comparing different CSA research investments. Several aspects make it challenging to prioritise CSA research, including its multi-dimensional nature (productivity, adaptation and mitigation), the uncertainty surrounding many climate impacts, and the scale and temporal dependencies that may affect the benefits and costs of CSA adoption. Here we propose a framework for prioritising agricultural research investments across scales and review different approaches to setting priorities among agricultural research projects. Many priority-setting case studies address the short- to medium-term and at relatively local scales. We suggest that a mix of actions that span spatial and temporal time scales is needed to be adaptive to a changing climate, address immediate problems and create enabling conditions for enduring change.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2018.09.009

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Philip Thorntonhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1854-0182

Anthony Whitbreadhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4840-7670

Lieven Claessenshttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2961-8990

Walter Baethgenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2052-2052

Christian Bunnhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2175-8745

Ken E Gillerhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5998-4652

Mario Herrerohttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7741-5090

VInay Nangiahttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5148-8614

Julian Ramirez-Villegashttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8044-583X

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2018.09.009

Climate Change; Agriculture; Food Security; Adaptation; Climate-Smart Agriculture; Agricultura Climáticamente Inteligente; Climate Change Mitigation

Agricultural Systems