Agroecology can make farming systems more resilient to drought, but resilience has limits. This review by Altieri and colleagues examines what happens when increasingly severe or prolonged droughts push agroecosystems beyond their capacity to adapt.

The authors review evidence showing how diversification, intercropping, agroforestry, mulching, organic matter management and water harvesting can improve soil moisture, water-use efficiency and farmers’ capacity to withstand and recover from drought. Importantly, the paper moves beyond asking whether these practices work and asks a more difficult question: how far can they extend the threshold before resilience begins to break down?

Evidence from Cuba and Chile also highlights that resilience depends on more than individual practices. Crop diversity, traditional knowledge, access to water, landscape characteristics, social networks and farmers’ capacity to adapt all influence how farming systems respond to drought. The review therefore stresses the importance of assessing both the vulnerability of agroecosystems and farmers’ response capacity.

The central message is that farm-level practices alone cannot address increasingly severe climate risks. Extending resilience requires action beyond individual farms, including watershed restoration, improved local hydrological cycles, collective action, knowledge exchange and an enabling institutional environment. This places agroecology within a broader approach to climate adaptation, linking farm management with landscape-level planning and rural development