Improving water management in agriculture Irrigation and food production

Description

Irrigated agriculture accounts for around 70% of global water use. However, an estimated 60% of irrigated cropland remains highly water-stressed, a problem intensified by the effects of climate change.

Improving water management in agriculture: Irrigation and food production considers ways of addressing this challenge. It reviews advances in monitoring and optimizing irrigation efficiency, ways of retaining and re-using water resources as well as how farmers can work collaboratively with other stakeholders to manage watersheds more sustainably.

The book highlights key areas where innovation is required to ensure that water use is optimised at farm and watershed scales. The book encourages farmers to reassess their current irrigation models and implement alternative practices which improve efficiency with a reduced environmental impact.

Key features

Table of contents

View/pre-order chapters

Part 1 Water for agriculture: externalities, drivers for change and future demands

• 1. Introduction: improving water management in agriculture: Jerry Knox, Cranfield University, UK;
• 2. Forecasting future water use in agriculture: Upali Amarasinghe, IWMI, Sri Lanka;
• 3. Monitoring agricultural water use, data challenges and potential solutions for sustainable water management: Tim Foster, University of Manchester, UK;

Part 2 Managing water for agriculture

• 4. Agronomic practices to optimise soil water retention: Stephen Anderson, University of Missouri, USA;
• 5. Advances in drainage design and management for irrigated agriculture: Henk Ritzema, Wageningen University, The Netherlands;
• 6. Tracking plant water abiotic stresses and signalling for irrigated horticulture: Ian C. Dodd, Lancaster University, UK;
• 7. Managing energy demands in irrigated agriculture: Juan Rodriguez-Diaz, University of Cordoba, Spain;
• 8. Solar powered irrigation: current developments and future uptake: Muhammed Arif Watto, University of Agriculture - Faisalabad, Pakistan;
• 9. PRECIMED: development of a DSS for precision irrigation in Mediterranean agriculture: Maria Fernanda Ortuno Gallud, Spanish National Research Council, Spain;

Part 3 Securing water resources for agriculture: diversification and collaboration

• 10. Advances in farmer-led irrigation development in Africa: Philip Woodhouse, University of Manchester, UK;
• 11. Improving water use in agriculture to reduce environmental impact: the irrigation efficiency paradox: Bruce Lankford, University of East Anglia, UK;
• 12. Developments in water sharing and water trading to secure supplies for agriculture: Sarah Wheeler, University of Adelaide, Australia;
• 13. Irrigation modernization in India: Martin Burton, Independent Consultant, UK;

Part 4 Reducing the environmental impacts of irrigation

• 14. Managing climate change, droughts and water scarcity affecting agriculture: Ray-Shyan Wu, National Central University, Taiwan;
• 15. Integrating biophysical and ballistic models to assess the agronomic and environmental impacts of precision irrigation: Andre Daccache, University of California-Davis, USA;
• 16. Water-energy-food nexus (WEF): Oscar Melo, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile;