Toward systems-level analysis of agricultural production from crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM): scaling from cell to commercial production

Systems-level analyses have become prominent tools for assessing the yield, viability, economic consequences and environmental impacts of agricultural production. Such analyses are welldeveloped for many commodity crops that are used for food and biofuel, but have not been developed for agricultural production systems based on drought-tolerant plants that use crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). We review the components of systems-level evaluations, and identify the information available for completing such analyses for CAM cropping systems. Specific needs for developing systems-level evaluations ofCAMagricultural production include: improvement of physiological models; assessment of product processing after leaving the farm gate; and application of newly available genetic tools to the optimization of CAM species for commercial production.