Sustainable Agricultural Water Use Research Articles

Balancing water use and nutrition for crop production in a highly dense population – Bangladesh

The challenge of sustainably feeding billions of people, particularly in highly populated emerging economies, such as Bangladesh, requires addressing the environmental consequences of crop production, such as sustainable water use in agriculture. Here, we assessed the sustainability of crop water use and analyzed the balance of water use and nutrient density by integrating the crop water use and nutritional provision data with a hydrological model, WaterGAP 2.2d. Findings revealed that Bangladesh overconsumed approximately 20 billion m3 of freshwater (19 % of total water consumption) owing to crop production during 2000–2016, with rice being a key crop. Shifting crop consumption from rice to alternative crops, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and maize, can improve both nutritional adequacy and sustainable water use. The analytical framework supports sustainable crop production by identifying key crops and watersheds that can contribute to sustainability, considering both sustainable water use and nutritional adequacy.

A planning strategy for sprinkler-based variable rate irrigation

Automated variable rate irrigation (VRI) is one of the frontiers for sustainable water use in agriculture. In this paper, we describe a planning procedure for self-propelled rain gun sprinklers, a type of equipment largely used in irrigation of open field crops thanks to its relatively low cost and easy deployment in multiple sites. The sprinkler is commanded by an information system which acquires data from remote sensors (satellite), processes vegetation indices and spatial maps describing the water need of the crop, and computes a VRI prescription map for a specific field, i.e. the water quantity to be supplied to each field sub-area. The VRI prescription map is used to compute the motion commands for a rain gun system pulled by a hose reel. The procedure is based on a sprinkler model, has been validated by simulation, and is fully automated. Experiments have shown the precision in water distribution achievable with software-controlled sprinklers and effective planning strategies.

Remote sensing techniques for water management and climate change monitoring in drought areas: case studies in Egypt and Tunisia

ABSTRACT This study focused on monitoring the water status of vegetation and soil by exploiting the synergy of optical and microwave satellite data with the aim of improving the knowledge of water cycle in cultivated lands in Egyptian Delta and Tunisian areas. Environmental analysis approaches based on optical and synthetic aperture radar data were carried out to set up the basis for future implementation of practical and cost-effective methods for sustainable water use in agriculture. Long-term behaviors of vegetation indices were thus analyzed between 2000 and 2018. By using SAR data from Sentinel-1, an Artificial Neural Network-based algorithm was implemented for estimating soil moisture and monthly maps for 2018 have been generated to be compared with information derived from optical indices. Moreover, a novel drought severity index was developed and applied to available data. The index was obtained by combining vegetation soil difference index, derived from optical data, and soil moisture content derived from SAR data. The proposed index was found capable of complementing optical and microwave sensitivity to drought-related parameters, although ground data are missing for correctly validating the results, by capturing drought patterns and their temporal evolution better than indices based only on microwave or optical data..

Regional water footprint assessment for a semi-arid basin in India.

Water footprint assessment enables us to pinpoint the impacts and limitations of the current systems. Identifying vulnerabilities across various regions and times helps us prepare for suitable actions for improving water productivity and promoting sustainable water use. This study aims to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the sector-wise water footprint in the Banas River Basin from 2008–2020. The water footprint of the Banas River Basin was estimated as 20.2 billion cubic meters (BCM)/year from all sectors. The water footprint has increased over the year with the increase in population, the number of industries, and crop production demand. The average annual water footprint of crop production varied from 11.4–23.1 BCM/year (mean 19.3 BCM/year) during the study period. Results indicate that the water footprint has nearly doubled in the past decade. Wheat, bajra, maize, and rapeseed & mustard make up 67.4% of crop production’s total average annual water footprint. Suitable measures should be implemented in the basin to improve water productivity and promote sustainable water use in agriculture, which accounts for nearly 95.5% of the total water footprint (WF) of the Banas basin. The outcomes of the study provide a reference point for further research and planning of appropriate actions to combat water scarcity challenges in the Banas basin.

Exploring Biblioshiny for Historical Assessment of Global Research on Sustainable Use of Water in Agriculture

There are quite a lot of studies from global and regional perspectives that touch on sustainable water use in agriculture. As a result, we explored Biblioshiny to review the scholarly research on the sustainable use of water in agriculture. Using data analysis and visualization technique of 4106 documents authored by 12,686 scholars in 724 journals published between 1990 and 2022, we find that research on this topic gained momentum in 2007 and has followed a steady increase with an annual growth rate of ~16.12%. The results of the co-occurrence network mappings highlight five trendy topics in research on sustainable water use in agriculture, which were categorized based on five (5) Word Minimum Frequency and Number of Words per Year. These topics include the AquaCrop model, Agroforestry, Biochar, No-tillage, and Diet. While renowned journals such as Agricultural Water Management, followed by Sustainability and Water, have taken leading roles in pushing research on sustainable water use in agriculture. Regarding the impact of perspective, in terms of institutional affiliation and countries, we found that the top three most prominent affiliated institutions producing publications allied to research on the sustainable use of water in agriculture are Northwest A&F University in Xianyang, China, China Agricultural University, and Hohai University in Nanjing, China, while the top three countries are China, the USA, and Australia, accounting for 45,039 (43.4%) of the total 103,900 global citations. The study’s findings can be helpful to scholars in presenting an overview of the literature on the sustainable use of water in agriculture.

International circular economy strategies and their impacts on agricultural water use

The concept of Circular Economy (CE) is becoming increasingly important in the pursuit of more sustainable societies. CE strategies are being applied in the sustainable management of a plethora of areas, such as energy, water, food and eco-industrial parks. The present paper focuses on the question of how CE principles can support the sustainable management of water in the agricultural sector around the world, considering different legislative environments, water resources management guidelines, environmental stressors, and CE practices. Considering these practices and circumstances, seven countries were compared: Brazil, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, and Taiwan. Together, CE experts in the seven countries developed a set of 44 criteria to assess each of these areas. Broader establishment and respect of water resources legislation was found to be strongly correlated with lower agricultural water use. While the application of CE practices was found to not be correlated with lower consumption, this is still novel in most countries. Based on the studied countries, it can be concluded that a global CE agenda has not been reached for water resources. Further application and variety of practices is required to better represent the impact of CE on a national scale, but local success stories could support the wider application of CE in agriculture. The findings and the framework of the study can be applied to other countries in directing CE strategies for more sustainable water use in agriculture. Increasing CE implementation, motivated by legislation and better management can help ensure water security throughout nations. • Circular Economy principles in worldwide agricultural water use were investigated. • A global CE agenda has not been reached for water resources. • Good practices identified may guide wider application of CE in agriculture. • Legislation and management can foster CE and water security globally. • The proposed framework can be used to assess and guide practices in other nations.

Water conservation can reduce future water-energy-food-environment trade-offs in a medium-sized African river basin

The need for achieving efficient and sustainable use of water resources is pressing, however, this often requires better understanding of the potential of water conservation, taking into account the impact on return flows, and the costs in relation to sectoral benefits. Using modelling and limited observational data we explore the costs and potential water savings of 24 combinations of water conservation measures in the Rufiji basin, Tanzania. We compare these costs with estimates of the value such water savings could generate from water use in three important economic sectors; agriculture, energy and downstream ecosystems with high tourism potential. The cost of water conservation measures (median: 0.07 USD m−3) is found to be: higher than the value of most uses of water for agriculture (growing crops in expanded irrigation sites) and the median value for hydropower generation (from a new mega dam currently under construction); and lower than the ecosystem value. Nevertheless, under our modelling assumptions, the volume of additional water required to supply planned irrigation expansion in the basin could be reduced by 1.5 BCM using water conservation methods that would be financially viable, given the value of competing uses of water. Water savings of this magnitude would reduce potential trade-offs between use of water for hydropower and ecosystem services, by allowing peak environmental flow releases even in dry years, and without reducing firm energy generation. This methodology is transferable and relevant for producing realistic assessments of the financial incentives for long-term sustainable water use in agriculture, given incentives for other uses. With most reservoirs now being built for multiple purposes improved understanding of trade-offs between different sectors and functions is needed.

Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture: A Review of Worldwide Research

Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture: A Review of Worldwide Research

Utility of Copernicus-Based Inputs for Actual Evapotranspiration Modeling in Support of Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture

Utility of Copernicus-Based Inputs for Actual Evapotranspiration Modeling in Support of Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture

Model Application for Sustainable Agricultural Water Use

With the growing population and climate change, increasing demands for water are intensifying competition between agricultural stakeholders. Since the mid-20th century, numerous crop models and modeling techniques have emerged for the quantitative assessment of cropping systems. This article introduces a collection of articles that explore current research in model applications for sustainable agricultural water use. The collection includes articles from model development to regional and field-scale applications addressing management effects, model uncertainty, irrigation decision support systems, and new methods for simulating salt balances. Further work is needed to integrate data science, modern sensor systems, and remote sensing technologies with the models in order to investigate the sustainability of agricultural systems in regions affected by land-use change and climate change.

Watson on the Farm: Using Cloud-Based Artificial Intelligence to Identify Early Indicators of Water Stress

As demand for freshwater increases while supply remains stagnant, the critical need for sustainable water use in agriculture has led the EPA Strategic Plan to call for new technologies that can optimize water allocation in real-time. This work assesses the use of cloud-based artificial intelligence to detect early indicators of water stress across six container-grown ornamental shrub species. Near-infrared images were previously collected with modified Canon and MAPIR Survey II cameras deployed via a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) at an altitude of 30 meters. Cropped images of plants in no, low-, and high-water stress conditions were split into four-fold cross-validation sets and used to train models through IBM Watson’s Visual Recognition service. Despite constraints such as small sample size (36 plants, 150 images) and low image resolution (150 pixels by 150 pixels per plant), Watson generated models were able to detect indicators of stress after 48 hours of water deprivation with a significant to marginally significant degree of separation in four out of five species tested (p < 0.10). Two models were also able to detect indicators of water stress after only 24 hours, with models trained on images of as few as eight water-stressed Buddleia plants achieving an average area under the curve (AUC) of 0.9884 across four folds. Ease of pre-processing, minimal amount of training data required, and outsourced computation make cloud-based artificial intelligence services such as IBM Watson Visual Recognition an attractive tool for agriculture analytics. Cloud-based artificial intelligence can be combined with technologies such as sUAS and spectral imaging to help crop producers identify deficient irrigation strategies and intervene before crop value is diminished. When brought to scale, frameworks such as these can drive responsive irrigation systems that monitor crop status in real-time and maximize sustainable water use.

Combining imaging techniques with nonparametric modelling to predict seepage hotspots in irrigation channels

Using the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, Australia as a case study, we present an integrated approach for identifying seepage hotspots and predicting seepage losses from open channel. The approach is particularly important to facilitate investments for improving irrigation conveyance efficiencies, thus enabling sustainable agricultural water use. A qualitative assessment is used for capturing seepage hotspots with electromagnetic inductance (EM31) imaging techniques, followed by actual seepage measurements. Based on data from major irrigation systems in the southern Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, a case is made for cost-effective methodology to locate seepage hotspots and quantify seepage losses in channels. In particular, a predictive model was developed based on EM31 survey and direct measured channel seepage data. The main input data for the model were EM values, soil types, water depth in channels, wetted perimeter of channels and whether water is flowing in channels. The output from the model was a seepage loss value in channels. The three different modelling techniques considered were the Generalised Linear Mixed (GLM) model, Random Forest (RF) model and Generalized Boosted Regression Model (GBM), and a best performing model for seepage prediction was identified. The RF model was found to the most reliable, explaining 60% of the variability in the data and with the least mean absolute error. The study indicated that the RF model can be used to locate seepage hotspots in channels and determine the magnitude of seepage losses.

Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture: A Review of Worldwide Research

Sustainability of water use in agriculture is a line of research that has gained in importance worldwide. The present study reviewed 25 years of international research on sustainable water use in agriculture. A bibliometric analysis was developed to sample 2084 articles. Results indicate exponential growth in the number of articles published per year, with research in this field having acquired a global scale. Environmental Science and Agricultural and Biological Sciences are the main categories. Three journals—Agricultural Water Management, Water Resources Management and Nongye Gongcheng Xuebao Agricultural Engineering—published the most of the articles. China, the U.S., Australia, India and Germany produced the most research. The three institutions that published the most articles were all Chinese (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Agricultural University and Northwest A&F University). The most cited authors were Ridoutt, Hoekstra and Zhang. The keywords most frequently used include: water-use, irrigation, water-management, water-supply, and sustainability. A network map shows three clusters that focus on the environmental, agronomic and management aspects. The findings of this study can assist researchers in this field by providing an overview of research on the sustainability of hydric resources.

Comparing Sprinkler and Surface Irrigation for Wheat Using Multi-Criteria Analysis: Water Saving vs. Economic Returns

Coping with water scarcity using supplemental irrigation of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the semi-arid northeast Syria is a great challenge for sustainable water use in agriculture. Graded borders and set sprinkler systems were compared using multi-criteria analysis. Alternative solutions for surface irrigation and for sprinkler systems were developed with the SADREG and the PROASPER design models, respectively. For each alternative, two deficit irrigation strategies were considered, which were characterized using indicators relative to irrigation water use, yields and water productivity, including farm economic returns. Alternatives were ranked considering two contrasting priorities: economic returns and water saving. A first step in ranking led to a selection of graded borders with and without precise land levelling and of solid set and semi-permanent sprinkler systems. Precise-levelled borders were better for water saving, while non-precise ones ranked higher for economic returns. Semi-permanent set systems have been shown to be better in economic terms and similar to solid set systems when water saving is prioritized. Semi-permanent sprinkler systems rank first when comparing all type of systems together regardless of the considered deficit irrigation strategy. Likely, border irrigation is appropriate when wheat is in rotation with cotton if the latter is surface irrigated. When peace becomes effective, appropriate economic incentives and training for farmers are required to implement innovative approaches.

Leveraging abscisic acid receptors for efficient water use in Arabidopsis

Plant growth requires the influx of atmospheric CO2 through stomatal pores, and this carbon uptake for photosynthesis is inherently associated with a large efflux of water vapor. Under water deficit, plants reduce transpiration and are able to improve carbon for water exchange leading to higher water use efficiency (WUE). Whether increased WUE can be achieved without trade-offs in plant growth is debated. The signals mediating the WUE response under water deficit are not fully elucidated but involve the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA). ABA is perceived by a family of related receptors known to mediate acclimation responses and to reduce transpiration. We now show that enhanced stimulation of ABA signaling via distinct ABA receptors can result in plants constitutively growing at high WUE in the model species Arabidopsis WUE was assessed by three independent approaches involving gravimetric analyses, (13)C discrimination studies of shoots and derived cellulose fractions, and by gas exchange measurements of whole plants and individual leaves. Plants expressing the ABA receptors RCAR6/PYL12 combined up to 40% increased WUE with high growth rates, i.e., are water productive. Water productivity was associated with maintenance of net carbon assimilation by compensatory increases of leaf CO2 gradients, thereby sustaining biomass acquisition. Leaf surface temperatures and growth potentials of plants growing under well-watered conditions were found to be reliable indicators for water productivity. The study shows that ABA receptors can be explored to generate more plant biomass per water transpired, which is a prime goal for a more sustainable water use in agriculture.

Evaluation of water use sustainability under future climate and irrigation management scenarios in Citarum River Basin, Indonesia

Sustainable water use in agriculture faces several challenges due to future climate change, increasing population, and higher living standards. Adapting to possible future changes in climate and sustaining the use of water are some of the challenges that face future agricultural water management. In this research, the sustainability of irrigation water use was assessed by performance criteria that consider the effects of climate change and adaption management on irrigation. The model, built using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system, is calibrated using the stream flow and the requirement of water for irrigation. The model was used to examine two future climate projections (A2 and B2), for time periods until 2099, and for four scenarios: (1) an increase in the irrigated area, (2) an increase in crop intensity, (3) a change in the crop pattern, and (4) a combination of increased irrigation area and increased crop intensity. Results show water supply is projected to increase by about 85 and 60% (relative to the historical period) in A2 and B2 climate scenarios, respectively, by the end of the century. The requirement for irrigation water will decrease in the future, relative to the historical period. The sustainability index will also decrease in the future, relative to the historical period. Relative to the baseline scenario, increasing the irrigated area is more sustainable than increasing the crop intensity or combining increased crop intensity with increased area under irrigation. Increasing the irrigated area is more amenable to adaption to possible future climate changes.

Optimizing the yield of winter wheat by regulating water consumption during vegetative and reproductive stages under limited water supply

To ensure sustainable agricultural water use in water shortage regions, practices of deficit irrigation should be adopted. This study investigated the performance of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under limited water supply from 2005 to 2011, a six-season field test on the North China Plain. The test was comprised of four treatments: rain-fed, single irrigation applied at sowing to obtain a good level of soil moisture at the start of crop growth (I1s), single irrigation applied during recovery to jointing (I1r), and full irrigation supplied as three irrigations (control, I3). The results showed that grain yield was significantly correlated with rainfall before heading and with evapotranspiration (ET) after heading (P < 0.01) under rain-fed conditions. The average contribution of soil water stored before sowing to seasonal ET was 90, 103, and 145 mm for rain-fed, I1s, and I1r, respectively, during the six seasons. A smaller root length density (RLD), which restricted utilization of deep soil water by the crop, was one of the reasons for the lower yield with rain-fed and I1s treatments compared with the I1r treatment in dry seasons. The results also showed that the limited irrigation applied from recovery to jointing stage (Treatment I1r) significantly promoted vegetative growth and more efficient soil water use during the reproductive (post-heading) stage, resulting in a 21.6 % yield increase compared with that of the I1s treatment. And although the average yield of the I1r treatment was 14 % lower than that of the full irrigation treatment, seasonal irrigation was reduced by 120–140 mm. With smaller penalties in yield and a larger reduction in applied irrigation, I1r could be considered a feasible irrigation practice that could be used in the NCP for conservation of groundwater resources.

The economic impact of more sustainable water use in agriculture: A computable general equilibrium analysis

Summary Agriculture is the largest consumer of freshwater resources – around 70 percent of all freshwater withdrawals are used for food production. These agricultural products are traded internationally. A full understanding of water use is, therefore, impossible without understanding the international market for food and related products, such as textiles. Based on the global general equilibrium model GTAP-W, we offer a method for investigating the role of green (rain) and blue (irrigation) water resources in agriculture and within the context of international trade. We use future projections of allowable water withdrawals for surface water and groundwater to define two alternative water management scenarios. The first scenario explores a deterioration of current trends and policies in the water sector (water crisis scenario). The second scenario assumes an improvement in policies and trends in the water sector and eliminates groundwater overdraft world-wide, increasing water allocation for the environment (sustainable water use scenario). In both scenarios, welfare gains or losses are not only associated with changes in agricultural water consumption. Under the water crisis scenario, welfare not only rises for regions where water consumption increases (China, South East Asia and the USA). Welfare gains are considerable for Japan and South Korea, Southeast Asia and Western Europe as well. These regions benefit from higher levels of irrigated production and lower food prices. Alternatively, under the sustainable water use scenario, welfare losses not only affect regions where overdrafting is occurring. Welfare decreases in other regions as well. These results indicate that, for water use, there is a clear trade-off between economic welfare and environmental sustainability.