Plants have evolved multiple strategies to balance growth and reproduction under diverse environmental conditions. An important aspect of these strategies is to determine how many flowers and fruits to produce. However, the mechanisms regulating the number of reproductive organs in plants remain poorly understood. Here, we show that the SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) gene network serves as a key reproductive switch in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plants overexpressing any of the SVP genes produced more flowers and fruits, whereas mutant plants impaired in SVP activity produced fewer. Mechanistically, SVP targets the floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) to downregulate its expression and initiate a switch from vegetative to reproductive growth. SVP directly activates the expression of the floral activator FLOWERING LOCUS M (FLM) independent of FLC, contributing to the floral transition. Furthermore, SVP controls meristem activity by coordinating the expression of various meristem regulators, thereby regulating the number of inflorescences and flowers per inflorescence. Together, these findings indicate that SVP is a key determinant of reproductive output in plants.