Farmers hold diverse and connected values towards crops.

Considerations of yield and profit often drive decision-making in agriculture, but these are not the only values farmers ascribe to crops. Recognizing the multiple values farmers use to choose crops and their management holds potential as a leverage point for sustainable transformations. To assess the diversity of values attributed by farmers towards individual crops, mixes of crops, and agroecosystems, we conducted a literature review of 125 studies published between 2010 and 2022. We analyzed 1,716 unique reports of value ascribed by farmers to 135 crop species across 67 countries and 20 agroecosystems. Farmers' values towards crops are diverse and connect economic, agronomic, social, cultural, and ecological dimensions of agriculture. While yield and profit are the values most frequently reported by farmers, social and cultural values, such as identity and cultural preferences, are also often considered as vitally important. Although most reviewed studies examined smallholder farmers and values assigned to single crops, results indicate that values vary across farm size and market orientation and across crop types. We also show that external forces, such as markets, policies, and climate change, interact with farmers' values to influence their management of crops. Finally, this review shows that researchers in different disciplines highlight different values, and that the complexity underpinning farmers' decisions about crops can be enlightened by interdisciplinary approaches. The article thus supports and extends the recommendation of IPBES to integrate diverse values linking farmers and crops into research and policy.