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Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture

Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture. ESP Fall Forum Sandy Kirtland. Agriculture is the single largest use of freshwater. 18% of global agricultural land is irrigated but this land produces 40% of the world’s food. Irrigation Facts. Wales Agricultural Institute. Inefficient systems

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Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture

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  1. Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture ESP Fall Forum Sandy Kirtland

  2. Agriculture is the single largest use of freshwater. 18% of global agricultural land is irrigated but this land produces 40% of the world’s food. Irrigation Facts Wales Agricultural Institute

  3. Inefficient systems Water mining Land subsidence Salinization Leeching of soil nutrients Soil erosion Ecosystem damage Problems with Irrigation Knowledge Bank

  4. What about Climate Change? IPCC Technical Report: Climate and Water

  5. Types of Irrigation Gravitational Sprinkler Trickle

  6. Crop yield per unit water use IE=Volume of Irrigation Water Beneficially Used/Volume of Irrigation Water Applied Irrigation Efficiency Marymont

  7. Tailwater reuse Low Energy Precision Application sprinklers Subsurface drip irrigation Improving Efficiency

  8. 5 million acre-feet delivered annually California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) provides current and accurate information about soil moisture Water trading among farmers encourages efficiency Central Valley Project

  9. Aquifers are being overdrawn globally Difficult to quantify rates of groundwater depletion and recharge Rivers have been reduced in flow One in five hectares of irrigated land has salt build up. Does efficient mean sustainable?

  10. Heavily subsidized agricultural water discourages adoption of efficient (and expensive) irrigation systems (like drip irrigation). Modern irrigation has bypassed the majority of the world’s farmers. Problems

  11. Irrigation is any method that supplies more water to crops than rainfall alone. Includes rainwater harvesting, plant selection, fallow cropping, no-till, and passive furrowing. Sustainable Irrigation Techniques

  12. Sustainable Techniques

  13. Discussion Questions • Which is more important in agriculture--efficiency or sustainability? • Is the Central Valley Project a good model for irrigation systems? • Are alternative water-saving techniques feasible in large scale conventional agriculture?

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