How Wet Crops Get

摘要

One of the major challenges posed by both increasing global population and climate change is the wise use of water. An enormous quantity of fresh water is used in agriculture, and planning in the face of dwindling resources requires an understanding of current and past consumption. With the aid of a global vegetation and water balance model, Rost et al. provide a global assessment of agricultural water use and evaluate how changes in land use affected water consumption during the 20th century.