Global warming is widely expected to increase the frequency of above-normal temperatures (Legave et al., 2015; Santos et al., 2017). Such temperatures are the main reason for the increase in heat and decrease in winter chill accumulation that have been observed in most places (Campoy et al., 2011; Luedeling, 2012; Atkinson et al., 2013; Lippmann et al., 2019). For temperate fruit and nut trees, adequate winter chill and heat accumulation are critical requirements for satisfactory commercial production (Gordo and Sanz, 2009; Cerutti et al., 2011; Luedeling et al., 2013; Darbyshire et al., 2016; Horikoshi et al., 2018; Fadon et al., 2020; Fernandez et al., 2020a; del Barrio et al., 2022). Insufficient winter chill and increasing heat during key phenological stages can affect important physiological processes, leading to non-uniform flowering (El Yaacoubi et al., 2014; Orlandi et al., 2014; Legave et al., 2015; Funes et al., 2016; Elloumi et al., 2024), delayed bud formation (Bonhomme et al., 2005; El Yaacoubi et al., 2016; Yi et al., 2020; Barba-Espin et al., 2022), abnormal bud-break (Bonhomme et al., 2005), fruit set reduction (Hedhly et al., 2007; Ruiz and Egea, 2008; Benlloch-Gonzalez et al., 2018; Egea et al., 2022), and ultimately reduced yield potential (Benmoussa et al., 2018; Moriondo et al., 2019; Mujahid et al., 2020; Fernandez et al., 2021). The literature reports a consistent decline in winter chill in all warm temperate climate regions around the world, which explains the high research interest in this topic. Since winter chill and heat accumulation are required for temperate fruit and nut crops to break dormancy, choosing appropriate cultivars for a given region is crucial to ensuring orchard productivity.

As temperature increases, prolonged drought events and variable precipitation patterns are becoming a major concern since they can cause intense drying and a reduction of irrigation water resources (Ponti et al., 2009; Gargouri et al., 2012; Ronco et al., 2017; Silva et al., 2018). Increased exposure of flowering trees to spring frost damage has also been studied, since early flowering due to increased winter temperature may expose flowers to spring frost events (Blanke and Kunz, 2009; Eccel et al., 2009; Matzneller et al., 2016; Leolini et al., 2018; Rojas et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2021; Fernandez et al., 2023). To avoid spring frost damage during the flowering period, many agricultural systems include artificial roof systems, wind machines or water sprinkler systems for protection (Ohata et al., 2017), or rely on late-blooming cultivars (Guo et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2021; Sapkota et al., 2021). Some other strategies, including the use of low-chill cultivars, dormancy avoidance, microclimate manipulation, and rest-breaking chemicals, have also been implemented to produce temperate fruit and nut crops in warm regions (Rai et al., 2015; Fernandez et al., 2023; Meza et al., 2023). Because of changing weather patterns, several studies have evaluated the capacity of crops to perform in regions that are becoming suitable for agriculture (del Barrio et al., 2021, del Barrio et al., 2022; Meza et al., 2023). However, because of the climatic variability across the world, it is imperative that further research is conducted at the local level to ensure the selection of appropriate cultivars (refer to Luedeling, 2012 for a detailed explanation).

Insect and pathogen communities are greatly affected by temperature fluctuations and climatic events. We identified several publications dedicated to studying pest migration, distribution, and adaptation, along with the risk of emerging pest threats in current and new cultivation areas due to warming weather (Gutierrez et al., 2008; Nyamukondiwa and Terblanche, 2010; Sanders et al., 2010; Sharma, 2014; Serga et al., 2015; Stephens et al., 2016; Costi et al., 2017; Gutierrez et al., 2018; Weldon et al., 2018; Qin et al., 2019; Gutierrez et al., 2021; Bogdanovich et al., 2023). Most of these articles project the future distribution of pests or changes in habitat suitability due to rising temperatures. For example, as mild winters become more frequent, effective reduction of insect populations due to cold temperature is compromised and therefore pest pressure may increase over time (Lippmann et al., 2019; Gutierrez et al., 2021). Furthermore, as spring and summer seasons become warmer, insect reproduction rates will likely increase, increasing population size, raising the pests’ ability to adapt to new scenarios, and exerting increasing pressure on host crops (Luedeling et al., 2011; Lippmann et al., 2019).

These studies have allowed the development of agroclimatic forecasts for a range of future scenarios, such as the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) proposed by the IPCC, which are used to describe different climate outcomes under a range of climate forcing scenarios. For instance, winter chill and heat models, essential for quantifying winter chill and heat requirements, are fundamental for facilitating the selection of appropriate cultivars (Luedeling et al., 2009a; Luedeling et al. 2009b; Luedeling et al., 2009c; Luedeling and Gassner, 2012; Benmoussa et al., 2018; Delgado et al., 2021; Fernandez et al., 2023; Meza et al., 2023). They have been evaluated in different scenarios to determine the likelihood that a region or location can exploit new opportunities for establishing temperate orchards (Sahu et al., 2020; del Barrio et al., 2021), or to identify agricultural adaptation strategies (Cabezas et al., 2020; Meza et al., 2023).

Nevertheless, according to the reviewed literature, many of the existing models deliver questionable projections when used to predict winter chill accumulation for climate change scenarios. Models vary greatly in their sensitivity to warming (Luedeling et al., 2009b), which leads to inconsistent projections when using models across multiple locations that feature differences in climate (Fernandez et al., 2020b, Fernandez et al., 2023). Luedeling (2012) explains that several winter chill models are entirely based on empirical observations, mainly collected in the location where they were developed, leaving observed phenological variation of bloom dates across locations unexplained. Therefore, the prediction capacity of winter chill models should be questioned, and predictions should be interpreted with caution, especially given recent and projected climate change. Several authors suggest that research on prediction models and forecasting should focus on the development of updated models to ensure appropriate heat and chill quantification, helping farmers prepare for the upcoming effects of climate change (Luedeling et al., 2009b; Luedeling, 2012; Elloumi et al., 2013; Darbyshire et al., 2014; Luedeling, 2018; Campoy et al., 2019; Parkes et al., 2020; Meza et al., 2023).

Several publications included in this review focus on risk assessment analysis to comprehend the scope of climate change effects. These studies are diverse in nature, providing outcomes and guidelines for the potential risk of flood damage (Kourgialas and Karatzas, 2016), desertification and drought (Gargouri et al., 2012), water scarcity (Ronco et al., 2017; Arenas-Castro et al., 2020), and yield potential (Fraga et al., 2020), among other factors. Having the ability to predict the future through models greatly enhances our ability to study and understand prospective climate outcomes, and to develop adequate responses to mitigate or adapt to the predicted conditions. Risk assessments have also been used to evaluate the likelihood of a cultivar meeting its winter chill requirements (Measham et al., 2014; Darbyshire et al., 2016; Fernandez et al., 2020a), and to provide relevant data through a platform targeting growers and researchers to support strategic orchard management decisions (Pathak et al., 2018; Fernandez et al., 2022). Accurate prediction models can provide crucial insights to policymakers and stakeholders to develop and implement adaptation strategies that help secure the sustainability of the fruit industry under future scenarios.

Water scarcity, aggravated by the effects of climate change, is predicted to worsen due to more severe and frequent drought events in warm temperate climate regions (Ronco et al., 2017; Galindo et al., 2018; Pedrero et al., 2020). This will decrease land suitability for fruit crops in many regions, especially in arid and semi-arid areas where rainfall is becoming less intense and frequent (Ronchail et al., 2014; Galindo et al., 2018; Araya-Osses et al., 2020; El-Otmani et al., 2020; Meza et al., 2023). Increasing annual mean temperature due to climate change also threatens the availability of freshwater. Along with reductions in water availability, higher temperatures increase evapotranspiration and crop water demand (Rai et al., 2015; del Pozo et al., 2019; Arenas-Castro et al., 2020; Fraga et al., 2020). The aforementioned conditions may explain the strong focus on water-saving strategies, such as water deficit irrigation management, that we observed in our analysis.

Deficit irrigation has historically been the main strategy used in olive trees and grapevine to manage fruit quality (Fernandes de Oliveira et al., 2013; Galindo et al., 2018; Araujo et al., 2019; Buesa et al., 2019; Kokkotos et al., 2020; Siakou et al., 2021; Ibba et al., 2023; Ferrara et al., 2024), and it is becoming a popular strategy in other crops, including mandarins (El-Otmani et al., 2020), pomegranates (Galindo et al., 2018; Adiba et al., 2022), apples (Panzacchi et al., 2012; Kendall et al., 2022), almonds (Gutierrez-Gordillo et al., 2020; Barreales et al., 2023), peaches (Ruiz-Sánchez et al., 2018), apricots (Ezzat et al., 2021), and pistachios (Marino et al., 2018). In brief, the idea is to reduce the amount of water provided to the crop during the growing season, improving marketable yield per unit of water and end-product quality, rather than achieving maximum yields (Ronco et al., 2017; Galindo et al., 2018; El-Otmani et al., 2020). However, some physiological stages such as blooming and fruit or nut filling are very sensitive to water deficit. Hence, deficit irrigation strategies need to be tailored for the specific needs of each crop, to maximize water savings without compromising fruit quality and yield (Galindo et al., 2018; Ruiz-Sánchez et al., 2018). A deficit irrigation strategy that is carefully adjusted to crop needs during all phenological stages can maximize water savings, without impacting fruit size and quality (Ruiz-Sánchez et al., 2018). Galindo et al. (2018) provide a complete review of water deficit strategies, proposing adoption of crops that are able to withstand low water supply, and highlighting the need for research on the risk of soil salinization, which may result from such irrigation strategies.

Two other strategies for water-savings that were mentioned in the reviewed literature are the use of desalinated water (Martin-Gorriz et al., 2014; Romero-Trigueros et al., 2021) and wastewater for irrigation purposes (Moretti et al., 2019; Kokkotos et al., 2020). Nonetheless, Martin-Gorriz et al. (2014) state that, while possibly conferring some adaptation benefits to fruit producers, using desalinated water may also accelerate global warming, since water desalination is an energy-intensive process. However, other authors propose that as water desalination is becoming cheaper and more sustainable, more research on the safe use of desalinated water in agriculture is needed (Aldaya et al., 2019). Besides desalinated water, wastewater is a plausible source for supplementing irrigation water in regions where drought is limiting food production (Moretti et al., 2019; Pedrero et al., 2020). Wastewater may come from different sources such as municipal effluents, agriculture, animal production and industrial processes (Pedrero et al., 2020). Nevertheless, in addition to the treatment required to safely use wastewater for irrigation in agriculture (Meli et al., 2002; Pedrero et al., 2020), some parameters such as salinity, sodicity, metal and trace elements, and organic materials may need to be closely monitored and controlled to ensure the safety of using such water resources for crop irrigation (Moretti et al., 2019; Pedrero et al., 2020).

Since water is essential for basic physiological processes, several studies have focused on the physiological responses of trees to water stress (Panzacchi et al., 2012; Zapata-Sierra and Manzano-Agugliaro, 2017; Torres et al., 2018; Gutierrez-Gordillo et al., 2020; Adiba et al., 2021). Examples of such processes and phenomena whose responses to water stress have received scientific attention are berry composition in grapevines (Fernandes de Oliveira et al., 2013; Permanhani et al., 2016; Buesa et al., 2019), anthocyanin levels in grapes (Fernandes de Oliveira et al., 2013), fruit quality in citrus and pistachios (Garcia-Tejero et al., 2011; Marino et al., 2018), phenolic composition in sweet cherries (Blanco et al., 2020), biomass in olives (Viola et al., 2012, Viola et al., 2014; Pierantozzi et al., 2020) and yield increase or decrease in grapes, olives and pistachios (Garcia-Tejero et al., 2011; Viola et al., 2012; Permanhani et al., 2016; Blanco et al., 2020; Pierantozzi et al., 2020). Most of these studies were aimed at increasing fruit quality and crop sustainability under water scarcity.

In some countries of the warm temperate climate region, governments are promoting or investing in irrigation infrastructure and encouraging farmers to adopt new technologies for sustainable irrigation (Roco et al., 2014; Galindo et al., 2018). However, such adaptation actions can be difficult to take. In Chile, for instance, farm-level adaptation is lagging behind scientific knowledge and government policies, mainly because of farmers’ highly variable socio-economic conditions and the high level of investment required to establish such infrastructure (Roco et al., 2014). Nonetheless, farmers’ ability to strategically manage water resources and to attune water availability to the needs of each specific crop and cultivar may make a difference in preserving freshwater for future generations.

Weather instabilities along with extreme climatic events have forced growers to look for agricultural practices that can help them adapt to the changing climatic regime. Rest-breaking chemicals have often been used to compensate for the lack of chill accumulation caused by increased temperatures (Gariglio et al., 2012; Ghrab and Ben Mimoun, 2014). As an alternative to chemical treatments, Mujahid et al. (2020) proposed using a cold plasma treatment to break dormancy in grapes. Beyond chill and dormancy control, optimizing nutrient use efficiency (Swarts et al., 2016), irrigation scheduling and harvest timing (Paltineanu and Chitu, 2020) are other farm management practices mentioned in the literature that can be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and facilitate climate change mitigation.

Microclimate management, such as water supply management or hail and shade nets, as well as soil management, such as tilling or mulching, can be effectively used in production systems to help reduce agriculture’s pressure on the environment (Houston et al., 2018; Campi et al., 2020). Protective covers and canopy management techniques are often used to mitigate the effects of climate change and have allowed for the expansion of agricultural production to new production areas. For instance, the use of polyethylene covers was evaluated in sweet cherry orchards in Chile, where such protective measures may provide protection from rain, hailstorms, and extreme cold temperatures as a strategy to expand production to new potential growing regions (Blanco et al., 2021; Rojas et al., 2021).

Along the same lines, another promising strategy identified in the literature to reduce the risk of insufficient winter chill accumulation or escape spring frost damage and desertification is the redistribution, shifting or expansion of cultivation to regions that may become favorable for fruit crop production, leading to the reconfiguration of agricultural landscapes (Ponti et al., 2009; Luedeling et al., 2009a; Dag et al., 2014; Tanasijevic et al., 2014; Thomson et al., 2014; Ohata et al., 2017; Rana et al., 2017; Hepaksoy et al., 2018; Leolini et al., 2018; Guo et al., 2019; Ben Rouina et al., 2020; Sahu et al., 2020; del Barrio et al., 2021; Rodriguez et al., 2021; Meza et al., 2023). The main limitation to most of these studies, however, is that they are solely based on the configuration of bioclimatic conditions, without considering local agricultural land use distribution, competition between land uses, and the adaptive capacity of crops (Houston et al., 2018; Sahu et al., 2020; del Barrio et al., 2021). A study in Argentinian Patagonia concluded that the increasing heat availability in the south of the southern hemisphere presents an opportunity for fruit and nut growers since new species and cultivars with temperate-climate requirements can be introduced into new regions outside their traditional ranges (del Barrio et al., 2021, del Barrio et al., 2022). Other studies evaluated the performance of olives in hot desertic areas to establish their yield potential and olive oil quality for future production (Dag et al., 2014; Ben Rouina et al., 2020).

Different strategies have also been proposed to protect crops from rising temperature and diminish sunburn damage. Excess heat and the additional water stress that it causes, can lead to a decrease in growth, leaf function, productivity, and fruit quality. Therefore, it is important to ensure that adequate measures are in place to mitigate the impact of these factors on plant health and overall performance. White kaolin powder sprays, clay, calcium carbonate and wax emulsion sprays have been used to reduce radiation load by increasing canopy albedo (Rosati et al., 2007; Houston et al., 2018; Meza et al., 2023; Teker, 2023). Other methods proposed to reduce radiation include leaf canopy management to keep the fruit shaded (Feng et al., 2018; Garrido et al., 2018; Martínez-Lüscher et al., 2020; Meza et al., 2023) and the installation of shading nets covering orchards and vineyards (Lobos et al., 2012; Feng et al., 2018; Mupambi et al., 2018). Besides methods oriented to reduce radiation, studies support the use of overhead irrigation misting systems to avoid heat stress in mid-summer (Kliewer and Schultz, 1973; Feng et al., 2018; Martínez-Lüscher et al., 2020).

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Shukla et al., 2022), the agriculture, forestry, and other land uses (AFOLU) sector was responsible for 13 - 21% of direct anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 2010 and 2019. On the other hand, agriculture is also responsible for considerable carbon sequestration through soil and plant activity, which contributes to mitigating climate change (Aguilera et al., 2015; Mohamad et al., 2016; Almagro et al., 2017; Shukla et al., 2022).

Intensive agricultural farming systems require a lot of energy for food production (Mazis et al., 2021). Conventional farming systems coupled with climate change often lead to the reduction of soil organic matter, soil erosion, desertification, and degradation of water resources (Michalopoulos et al., 2020; Niu et al., 2021), leading to less carbon storage in those systems. However, research in olive orchards supports that intensification can improve carbon sequestration and soil quality (Mairech et al., 2020, Mairech et al., 2021; Taguas et al., 2021). Although sustainable agricultural practices have been applied for a long time, as the effects of climate change become more evident, alternative farming practices have recently gained new prominence due to conducive policies and increased consumer demand for fruits and nuts with low environmental impact.

Sustainable practices, such as minimum or no tillage (Cook, 2006; Rodriguez-Pleguezuelo et al., 2017), weed mowing (Martin-Gorriz et al., 2020), cover cropping (Marquez-Garcia et al., 2013; Wolf et al., 2017), incorporation of biochar and organic soil amendments (Stavi, 2013; Baronti et al., 2014; Walkiewicz et al., 2020), biomass accumulation and crop diversification (Martin-Gorriz et al., 2020; Michalopoulos et al., 2020), are potentially beneficial measures to offset anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (Stavi, 2013) and provide efficient mechanisms against soil degradation and desertification (Martin-Gorriz et al., 2020). However, none of these practices alone consistently leads to positive effects on ecosystems (Kleijn et al., 2019a). More studies on sustainable practices may be needed at the regional level to help reduce knowledge gaps related to local farming practices and to help farmers make informed decisions.

Organic agriculture has been proposed and evaluated as an adaptation strategy to help reduce the impacts of climate change (Mohamad et al., 2016). Granatstein et al. (2016) reported that organic agriculture has grown by 109% in Europe and North America for organic temperate fruit trees between 2008 and 2013. Some benefits derived from organic farm management include increased carbon sequestration, reduced erosion, soil fertility restoration and biomass accumulation (Martin-Gorriz et al., 2020). However, Mohamad et al. (2016) found that the use of manure for fertilization in organic agriculture increased GHG emissions, even though an increase in soil carbon content compensated, at least partially, for the negative effect of these emissions.

Ecological intensification is based on the assumption that the delivery of ecosystem services is suboptimal in high-input agricultural systems (Bommarco et al., 2013). This production strategy has been proposed as an alternative to maximize productivity while minimizing potential negative environmental effects, by harnessing ecosystem services to complement or substitute external inputs, such as synthetic fertilizers and agrochemicals (Bommarco et al., 2013; Kleijn et al., 2019b). Despite the use of wildflower strips having become a popular strategy in temperate orchard systems, their implementation in Mediterranean orchard systems remains understudied (Mockford et al., 2023). In a recent study, Mockford et al. (2023) evaluated the suitability of 12 native perennial species for wildflower strips in commercial citrus orchards over a three-year period, reporting increasing plant species richness and greater availability of resources expected to support natural enemies. Agroforestry is a model of ecological intensification that has the potential to provide multiple ecosystem services and contribute to biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes (Torralba et al., 2016; Panozzo et al., 2022). These systems have been associated with improvements in crop growth and yield, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions (Jose, 2009; Tscharntke et al., 2011; Mbow et al., 2014). In the Mediterranean area, where the risk of yield losses due to climate issues is increasing, the impact of trees on the microclimate and edaphic environment might be beneficial for understory crops (Panozzo et al., 2022). Although agroforestry has a long tradition in the Mediterranean region dating back to pre-Roman times, due to agricultural intensification, traditional agroforestry systems have not been implemented in the last few decades in a large part of this area (Panozzo et al., 2022; Rezgui et al., 2024). We identified four studies published recently focusing on the implementation of agroforestry systems to enhance farm sustainability and diversification (Bateni et al., 2021; Zahoor et al., 2021; Panozzo et al., 2022; Rezgui et al., 2024).

Carbon sequestration has also been studied as a mitigation measure to restore degraded land. Temperate fruit orchards and vineyards are currently receiving much attention for their potential to act as carbon sinks to help raise soil organic matter contents (Phani Kumar et al., 2010; Scandellari et al., 2016; Mairech et al., 2020; Mairech et al., 2021; Taguas et al., 2021). Montanaro et al. (2017) studied carbon budgets in peaches with the purpose of establishing the best soil management method to improve carbon sequestration and raise soil organic carbon content. Overall, the research we reviewed indicates that advances towards sustainable and climate-smart fruit production can be achieved through a range of practices, including improving soil management, incorporating crop residues and reducing tillage.

It is important to highlight that major advances towards sustainable agricultural production across the globe seem unlikely without changes in policies, economic incentives and farm adaptation (Shukla et al., 2022). Such measures need to consider the costs and benefits for farmers, including the impact on crop yield stability. Therefore, most authors agree that adequate strategies for sustainable farm management need to be implemented at local level in order to reduce GHG emissions. Sustainable farming practices that combine elements of conventional and organic practices may hold promise for reducing the negative impact of agricultural practices on the environment (Ceccanti et al., 2020).

Genetic improvement is a long-term strategy that involves the development of new, adapted cultivars that are able to withstand the adversities of climate change (Iwata et al., 2016; Houston et al., 2018). To improve knowledge and enhance the capacity to react to changing climate conditions, breeders should have access to genetic diversity and genetic resources that thrive under marginal growing conditions (Hoisington et al., 1999; Brummer et al., 2011; Lippmann et al., 2019; Galluzzi et al., 2020; Letelier et al., 2020). Consequently, access to genetic resources and their evaluation for climate adaptation was identified as a topic of interest within the scientific community. Galluzzi et al. (2020) conducted a survey on the role of genetic resources in breeding for climate change in developing countries, finding a prevailing tendency among respondents to use advanced or elite germplasm as a source of genes to breed for drought tolerance. However, genetic diversity within elite germplasm may be low, and alleles related with adaptation to non-optimal growing conditions may have been lost during crop domestication and breeding. Breeders have started looking for genetic sources outside of modern cultivars in search of traits that may enable crops to tolerate prevailing or expected environmental conditions. Wild and domesticated accessions stored in gene banks around the world may contain genes related to crop tolerance to increased annual temperatures, reduced winter chill accumulation, reduced annual precipitation, prolonged drought events, and increased pest pressure that are not present in elite materials. Perez et al. (2020) evaluated old peach cultivars on the Canary Island La Palma, to look for germplasm adapted to warmer conditions, and Carvalho et al. (2017) evaluated ten traditional Portuguese grapevine varieties to identify genes associated with tolerance to abiotic stresses. In olive, a crop that is highly adapted to dry conditions, a collection of wild crop relatives was evaluated with microsatellite markers to determine suitable genotypes to be used as rootstocks to improve olive productivity (Diaz-Rueda et al., 2020a). Nevertheless, according to Galluzzi et al. (2020), the lack of knowledge on genetic resources and cultivar diversity in several species limits their use for accessing important traits for adaptation to climate change conditions.

Genetic resources in the form of cultivated crops are threatened by global warming, which may reduce the fitness of many wild species in their natural habitats (Lippmann et al., 2019). The loss of natural habitat and crop genetic diversity and the disappearance of native germplasm signify setbacks for breeding efforts for climate adaptation. Access to a wide range of genetic diversity is critical for the success of plant breeding agendas (Hoisington et al., 1999), highlighting the importance of strengthening policies to incentivize germplasm collection and conservation.

Although natural populations and germplasm collections may harbor genes that can confer adaptation benefits to commercial crops (Lobos and Hancock, 2015; Perez et al., 2020; Diaz-Rueda et al., 2020b), to facilitate their rapid adoption by breeding programs, genomic regions associated with traits of interest need to be mapped and characterized. Novel genomic technologies developed in recent years have provided new gene mapping techniques and allowed the development of molecular markers that can accelerate the efficient deployment of beneficial alleles to new cultivars (Lobos and Hancock, 2015; Iwata et al., 2016; Whitaker et al., 2020). For instance, because chilling requirements are becoming a limiting factor for cultivar adaptation in warming environments, scientists are working on identifying genes associated with bud dormancy and flowering time in temperate crops to elucidate the genetic control of these processes and develop new cultivars adapted to different climatic conditions (Castede et al., 2014; Romeu et al., 2014; Allard et al., 2016; Prudencio et al., 2018; Cantin et al., 2020; Prudencio et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2022). New technologies have also enabled the identification of the genetic regions controlling traits such as flowering time (Ruiz et al., 2019; Branchereau et al., 2023) and bud dormancy (Allard et al., 2016; Prudencio et al., 2018, Prudencio et al., 2021), as well as traits related to temperature requirements for endodormancy release (Romeu et al., 2014). The identification of regions harboring genes related with the response of trees to environmental cues has facilitated the efficient use of molecular markers to reliably select genotypes that are better suited to particular climatic conditions.

As mentioned before, new pathogens will probably migrate to temperate regions, posing new challenges for disease management. In consequence, resistance to pests and diseases is one of the main objectives for breeding programs, and it will continue to play an important role along with the improvement of other phenotypic traits to overcome the challenges of climate change (Brummer et al., 2011; Lippmann et al., 2019). For a cultivar to be successful, adaptation and performance must be evaluated in multi-environment trials to assess the effects of genetic and environmental factors, as well as the effects of interactions between these factors on crop quality and productivity (Navas-Lopez et al., 2019; Farsi et al., 2023). Such trials are instrumental for identifying cultivars that produce reliably across environments or to select the best performers for specific conditions. In this context, the role of breeders is to identify the individuals with the highest breeding value given the local environment. Hence, local research organizations and universities, governments and private companies need to invest in local breeding programs to take timely actions in response to the needs of local environments and markets (Brummer et al., 2011; Galluzzi et al., 2020).