Flowering time is an important phenotype linked with plant adaptation. In the context of food crops, flowering time has a significant impact on agricultural productivity. Climate change has negative impacts on agricultural productivity that poses a threat to the global food security, particularly with the growing population. Thus, development of climate-friendly crops is essential for sustainable agriculture, and flowering time is an important trait in that context. Flowering time regulation at the molecular level is well studied across different plants, including crops. Major insights on the molecular pathways regulating flowering time have come from studies on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Study of natural variation provides insights of evolution of plants, crop domestication and plant breeding. These insights, combined with recent advances in genetic tools, offer new opportunities for improving crop yield and agricultural productivity. Incorporating genomics together with predictive modelling and artificial intelligence, flowering time could emerge as a key trait for the development of climate-smart crops.