Mitigating climate change through managing constructed-microbial communities in agriculture

•Review of peer-reviewed and think-tank literature we explore a concert of approaches.•Utilization of microbial-plant mutualisms to increase crop yields in general.•Utilization of microbial-plant mutualisms to increase yields in response to CC.•All of the above approach combines native and synthetic approaches.

The importance of increasing crop production while reducing resource inputs and land-use change cannot be overstated especially in light of climate change and a human population growth projected to reach nine billion this century. Mutualistic plant–microbe interactions offer a novel approach to enhance agricultural productivity while reducing environmental costs. In concert with other novel agronomic technologies and management, plant-microbial mutualisms could help increase crop production and reduce yield losses by improving resistance and/or resilience to edaphic, biologic, and climatic variability from both bottom-up and top-down perspectives.