Landscape and crop diversity contributes to greater yield stability

Abstract Maintaining stable agricultural production is a critical challenge for food security. Stable yields depend not only on climatic variables, but also on agricultural landscape management. While agricultural intensification can increase productivity in the short term, it often reduces long‐term yield stability due to reduced crop diversity and the loss of semi‐natural habitats. This study investigates the relationships between landscape heterogeneity, climatic variables and temporal stability of crop yields across Spain. Using an extensive national dataset of productivity for 31 crops from 2013 to 2019, we analysed how landscape composition (crop richness, semi‐natural habitat cover) and configuration (field size, edge density), along with climatic factors (precipitation, temperature, water deficit), influence yield stability. Our results show that yield stability is influenced by climatic factors and landscape characteristics. Greater land‐use heterogeneity and stable precipitation favour yield stability. Furthermore, moderate within‐season precipitation concentrations also improved yield stability. We also detected interactive effects between crop pollinator dependence and landscape‐level crop diversity and climate. Pollinator‐dependent crops showed greater stability with increasing crop diversity and variable temperatures, while non‐pollinator‐dependent crops benefited from simpler crop areas and stable temperatures. Synthesis and applications . These findings underscore the importance of promoting crop diversity and maintaining heterogeneous agricultural landscapes, particularly in pollinator‐dependent crops. Promoting diverse agricultural landscapes with balanced heterogeneity can enhance the resilience of agricultural systems to climate change and contribute to long‐term food security.