Agricultural water security: Research and development prescription for improving water use efficiency, availability, and quality

摘要

The major and growing challenge for society is water. Water is essential for agriculture, which uses 70-80% of withdrawn fresh water. The global need by 2050 for increased food/feed production for 3.0 billion additional humans and for increased meat consumption in emerging economies, coupled with the biobased industrial product opportunities, will greatly expand agriculture's need for water. Climate change also will impact water and agriculture. The effects of crop and animal production on water quality (nutrient and pesticide contamination and soil salinization) need to be reduced to meet increasingly stringent quality standards. Expanded, integrated, focused agronomic, agroecological, engineering, and genetic research, development, and implementation are essential to improve water-use efficiency, availability, and quality as prescribed here for agricultural water security and food security for Canada and the United States, and elsewhere.