Title:	Food system resilience requires moving beyond zero-sum growth-defense frameworks.
Authors:	SPEROTTO, R. A. MINELLO, L. V. P. CABRAL, T. P. da S. CAMPOS, M. L. N. ALMEIDA, F. A. Q. de CAMPOS, M. L.
Affiliation:	RAUL ANTONIO SPEROTTO, CNPMS; LUANA VANESSA PERETTI MINELLO; THAINA PEREIRA DA SILVA CABRAL, UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO MATO GROSSO; MARIA LUÍSA NERI CAMPOS, UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO MATO GROSSO; FELIPE AUGUSTO QUEIROZ DE ALMEIDA, UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO MATO GROSSO; MARCELO LATTARULO CAMPOS, UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO MATO GROSSO.
Date Issued:	2026
Citation:	Global Food Security, v. 50, 100934, 2026.
Description:	Agricultural systems are increasingly challenged by climatic instability, pest outbreaks, and pressure to reduce dependence on external inputs. However, agricultural evaluation systems remain strongly focused on productivity under optimal conditions, with less emphasis on resilience and adaptive capacity. One driver of this bias is the longstanding assumption that plant growth and defense are inherently antagonistic. Although plant biology now shows that growth and defense are dynamically coordinated rather than strictly competitive, this vision remains poorly integrated into agronomic evaluation and policy. In this Perspective we argue that persistent zero-sum interpretations of growth-defense relationships may constrain how resilience, stress tolerance, and sustainability are integrated into agricultural evaluation systems. Reframing growth-defense antagonism as a systems and policy problem may help align agricultural evaluation frameworks with the multifunctional demands imposed by climate change and sustainable food production.
Thesagro:	Produtividade Política Agrícola Defesa Vegetal Mudança Climática
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2026.100934
Type of Material:	Artigo de periódico
Access:	openAccess
Appears in Collections:	Artigo em periódico indexado (CNPMS)