Climate-Smart Agriculture in a Drying Region: A Scoping Review of Practices, Barriers, and Resilience Pathways in Arizona, USA

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AgroEnvironmental Sustainability
Sufyan Suleman , Khadija Siita

Abstract

This study synthesizes evidence on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in Arizona and closely related Southwestern dryland contexts to identify reported practices, associated resilience outcomes, adoption barriers and enabling factors, and evidence gaps. Following scoping review design, the study conducted searches in Scopus, Web of Science, CAB Abstracts, AGRICOLA, Academic Search Complete, and Google Scholar, as well as targeted grey literature. The search was conducted between February 2 and March 5, 2026, and retrieved on March 8, 2026. Eligible sources were English-language, full-text studies or credible institutional reports that focused on Arizona agriculture, or on closely related Southwestern dryland agricultural systems with direct relevance to Arizona. A total of 22 studies met the inclusion criteria. The findings show that CSA in Arizona is shaped primarily by chronic water scarcity, rising heat, and broader socioecological stress. The most frequently reported practices include water-saving irrigation, crop switching, fallowing, groundwater substitution, cover cropping, compost use, reduced tillage, biological pest control, nature-based solutions, and emerging low-water systems such as agrivoltaics and desert agroforestry. The evidence suggests that resilience outcomes are strongest in the domains of water management, production adjustment under scarcity, and adaptive capacity, while evidence for long-term productivity and environmental gains remains limited. The results further show that adoption is constrained by high transition costs, infrastructure limitations, weak market support for alternative low-water systems, and gaps in training, advisory capacity, and institutional coordination. Overall, the study argues that CSA in Arizona is not a fixed package of practices but an evolving, context-specific response to aridity.

Keywords

agricultural resilience Arizona climate adaptation Climate-smart agriculture water scarcity

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