Abstract
Restoring soil health to reduce irrigation demand and buffer the impacts of drought
Highlights
Expanding the use of irrigation has been proposed as one key solution to the pressing need for increasing food production by 70% above 2006 levels in the coming decades[1,2]
One key solution lies in increasing irrigation efficiency, both in the process of water transfer from source to the fields and in field application methods
Through various replicated microcosm and field experiments conducted in Ningxia, China and in New York and North Dakota, USA we have consistently demonstrated that the woodchips capture higher amounts of rainfall and maintain higher soil moisture contents for several weeks compared to untreated control soils (Fig. 1)
Summary
Expanding the use of irrigation has been proposed as one key solution to the pressing need for increasing food production by 70% above 2006 levels in the coming decades[1,2]. Irrigation already consumes a very large percentage (70% on average) of the total 4500 km of water withdrawn for human use from rivers, lakes and aquifers each year[4]. This usage directly competes with the critical need for public drinking-water supply. The canal is open to evaporation and was completely unlined for 70 years until 2009 when lining was completed for just 23 km of the canal This became a controversial action because of the reduction in leaching and recharge to groundwater which had become a reliable source of water moving subsurface across the border and supplying wetlands in Mexico. Regardless of the field irrigation system used, improving the health of the soil, and its capacity to store water, can greatly reduce the irrigation demand
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