Preservation Of Water in Farming
About 70% of the world’s fresh water supply is used in agriculture, 20% in industry and 10% is used in domestic applications. With the ever-growing competition among cities and farmers the water usage has been on the rise. The concerns over large-scale overdraft of groundwater and water contamination from agricultural runoff has amplified for the past two decades. We are facing new threats with climate changes that could impact both water accessibility and agricultural demands
By 2050, an estimated 19% water increase for global irrigation will be needed. About 40% of the world food is produced in artificially irrigated areas.
The global nutrition has significantly improved, providing more food at lower prices. Crops have very specific water requirements, depending on the local climate conditions. Farmers in the US have implemented innovative water management strategies. Those successful practices are being published at www.agwaterstewards.org. The database provides potential solutions to help farmers.
Within the recent years, we have seen some changes in our climates that have impacted the agricultural sector. Farmers are vulnerable to those changes that is directly tied to land and water resources. Even minor changes in temperature and precipitation patterns have impacted farmers during the growing seasons.
Pollution and contamination remains a main issue. Water carries fertile soil that have been washed out, high concentrations of fertilizer, pesticides, salts, heavy metals and sewage from households, as well as chemical substances from factories. Europe is currently recovering from those direct pollution from their lakes and many rivers.
The Asia regions and other emerging economic countries are now facing the same issue at a higher scale. With the use of water further downstream it has become increasingly and expansive, sometime impossible to use the groundwater due to toxic substances. In some region farmers are polluting waters with pesticides and huge amount of nitrogen.
Irrigating agricultural areas more efficiently by increasing the harvest of water precipitation. There are easy methods to avoid water evaporation directly from the soil. Building water reservoirs and irrigation systems. In the water-scarce regions of Africa and Central Asia the importation of food product from the regions with abundant water resources has been critical.