Humanity throughout the years have endeavored to increase production of arable farmland to maintain the ability to feed the ever increasing population. Irrigation is generally considered the most effective way of increasing farmland production. It can help supplement the water needed for crop growth when rainfall is at a low point or, in more humid areas, it can help bridge dryer times and reduce agricultural risks. The goal of irrigating is to increase the land usable for crops, the crop production per harvest per season, and the diversity of crops that can be grown in different areas(R.J. Oosterbaan, Page 1). With the advent of irrigation leads to the problem of waterlogging. In flat lands, waterlogging is the result of local losses of irrigation water, due to leakage from canals and above all from percolation in irrigated fields from the absence of sufficient natural drainage capacity of the aquifer. These waters further add to the groundwater reservoir, thereby raising the water table. In lands with considerable differences in topography, waterlogging occurs primarily in depressions, valley floors, or at the foot of slopes. It is caused by the flow of groundwater from irrigation losses in higher-lying areas.
Salinity develops in arid and semi arid regions, simultaneously with waterlogging. As long as the water table remains deep, the salts, imported with the irrigation water, are washed down into the deeper soils with the percolation losses of irrigation water. If the water table becomes more shallow however, excess irrigation can no longer take place, otherwise the land would become flooded with stagnating water. At this point, salt leaching no longer occurs, and the salts brought in with the irrigation water accumulate i...
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... animal consumption, animals consuming salty water can have many health problems. As an example, dry cows need about 8 to 10 gallons of water daily. Cows in their last 3 months of pregnancy may drink up to 15 gallons a day. Those in milk need about five times as much water as the volume of milk produced. And calves require much more water after weaning than before.
Despite the many disappointing results, irrigation can and will need to be a central component in producing food for the world’s growing population and in sustaining the livelihood of farmers. In the past many positive examples have been created. It is therefore vital that engineers and economists rehabilitate the reputation of irrigation by embarking on more effective irrigation projects in which they give due attention to environmental impacts that may change an environment permanently in the future.
As Jensen points out, farming and industry accounts for the vast majority of total water usage in the world (477). The increasingly scarce resource is a necessary ingredient when growing food. Technology continuously improves to make it easier for farmers to grow crops while using less water. Scientists at the University of Georgia utilize what they term “variable rate irrigation” to let farmers automate the current systems of irrigation to water only the crops that need it (Gies). This is an example of retrofitting current farms, but there is a new way of farming coming to cities that reuses practically all of its water and stakes claim much less acreage in the process. The future of agriculture belongs to vertical and urban farming. These types of farms reduce the use of water, chemicals (such as pesticides, herbicides and fungicides), soil and space (The Economist). These farms are so cutting edge that they are mostly in the experimental stages. Firms like Famgro farms are testing “stackable” farming systems that can scale with demand, even further reducing waste. Famgro’s stackable farms are ideal for cityscapes where land is at a premium; furthermore, reaping the added benefit of being in close proximity to the customers that they serve. Customers will enjoy high quality, fresh produce at only a slightly
Irrigation aids the leaching of chemicals used in the production of grapes into the environment. The shift towards drip irrigation has been positive for the environment. It has minimized the quantity of water used in irrigation thus minimizing chemical leaching.
On the heart (center) of California is a flat area with miles and miles of farms and up to 230 different crops. The central valley agriculture is essential to the United States; it not only delivers almost half of the produce but also helps the economy by also giving more job opportunities (California Department of food and agriculture, 2014). Many families depend on the central valley agriculture to survive economically in the United States. It is a well-known fact that rain and snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are a very important element in the central valley. No rain in the central valley can cause many devastating issues to occur quickly. Recently in the year of 2013 California received less rainfall than years before. The small amount of water the central valley is receiving is harming not only to the land but humans and animals as well. It’s destroying the habitats of animals with forest fires caused from the dry spells occurring. The central valley is going through a drought, so much that around this time of year the central valley usually accumulates enough rain for the necessities in the valley, agriculture for example. This year, however, has been different, the central valley hasn’t received enough water and this has caused a drought in the valley. Water is an important element in this world for not only human life, but for the environment in general, a shortage of water supply can bring issues to the environment and those living in it. The central valley holds the largest percent of class one soil, not only that, the valley grows a third of all the produce being grown in the United States, that’s more than 230 crops that are being grown in the central valley. However, this drought isn’t only affecting the resident...
Most of water consumed in China is not rationally used. The cause which intensifies the water shortage in China is water inefficient use. For instance, 65%-70% of Chinese water usage is spent on agricultural needs, but more than half of this amount evaporates percolates and loses (Roberts 2009). Besides, majority of another 20%-25% which is occupied by China’s industry is not recycled (Brown 2008a, 16; Roberts 2009). Obviously, improving water distribution technologies and management quality can be one of the options to reduce the water scarcity in China. There are many different methods of improving the water distribution efficiency. Firstly, irrigation technologies should be improved. Farmers in China may use drip and shrink irrigation methods instead of traditional “surface” ones such as furrow and flood irrigation. Drip irrigation method is used mostly in arid and semi-arid zones and it increases the efficiency of irrigation by transporting the water directly to the roots of irrigated plant. The emitters sprinkle the soil under the roots with water which is introduced to the plant by pipes, diminishing water evaporation, deep percolation and leak. In contrast, fur...
For some people irrigation systems may not sound interesting or useful, however; they play a huge role in keeping produce alive and well-watered. Be...
Water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions and declining its availability to a crisis ...
Water that has changed throughout the hydrologic process travels from the irrigation treatment and enters into the aquifers. First...
Majority of Indian’s livelihoods are dependent upon land and water based occupational functions such as agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry and fisheries. India’s total land is about 329 million hectares, out of which 175 million hectares of land is non-productive hence non-profitable and therefore it requires special treatment for the same reason. In India, water availability situation is murky because of spatial and temporal variability. Both these factors are forecaste...
...y to cause crop yields declined , particularly through increased flooding . It is not clear whether the decrease in moisture and surface runoff due to increased evapotranspiraion (HE ) driven by increase in temperature is beneficial to crop yields in southern China , because this area has heavy rainfall.
With the rapid growth of our global population pouring into the next millennium, we will witness an ever-growing hunger rate around the world. That is unless we call for a revolution on the global scale. The Green Revolution which already sprouted in the early part of the century only need to add a bit more momentum and we will see a bright future for the human race, a future without hunger and starvation ¡V hopefully.It is becoming increasingly difficult for the planet to support its overwhelming population. And since the amount of arable land available is becoming scarce, we must seek ways to dramatically improve crop yields of existing cropland.
Above, is a quote from a man recovered from an article of writing back in the ancient Egyptian times. Irrigation is a form of re-routing water, to parts of land that the water is needed, in farming terms. For Example, there are two crops, one crop is getting all the water, and it’s flooding. With irrigation, the farmer will re-route the water towards the other crop, as well as sharing the water with the crop that was being flooded. So now, both crops are getting enough water and they are not flooding nor suffering from drought.
Agriculture is the major farming activity. Agriculture's scale means not only that large area is directly affected, but that local and even regional climates can be affected. The draining of water from rivers and watersheds for irrigation leads to drier natural habitats. Those rivers that receive runoff from farmland are often poisoned by excessive nutrients and pesticides.
The problem of water scarcity has increasingly spread throughout the world as of yet, The UN reports that within the next half- century up to 7 billion people in 60 countries which is more than the whole present population will face water scarcity (Sawin “Water Scarcity could Overwhelm the Next Generation”). As well the demand for freshwater has tripled over the past 50 years, and is continuing to rise as a result of population growth and economic development. 70% of this demand derives from agriculture which shows the influence of water on food supply globally as well not just drinking water (Sawin “Water Scarcity could overwhelm the Next Generation”). But increasing water use is not just a matter of the greater number of people needing it to drink and eat; it also comes from pollution and misuse of water supplies, by either dumping or runoff of bacteria or chemicals into water. This also “causes other pollutions as well such as soil and air pollution, accelerating wetland damage and human caused global warming” (Smith and Thomassey 25). According to UN report, recent estimates suggest that climate change will account for about 20 percent of the increase in global water scarcity in coming decades.
Sandra Postel, on the other hand, has a different opinion than Danielle’s. She proposed that “without increasing water productivity in irrigation, major food-producing regions will not have enough water to sustain crop production”.
Global warming is one of the main causes, which leads to the lack of water and drought. A drought-like condition exists in most of India’s part. Government of India states that 68% of the country is disposed to the drought, which (consequences are) leads to massive migration of people to more favorable places, famine, conflicts among inhabitants. India is known in the world as one of the biggest producers of water-intensive crops such as rice, sugarcane and wheat. According to a survey done by Grail Research, approximately 82% of total water is used for agricultural consumption and 90% of it is employed for irrigation of rice, wheat and sugarcane (Grail Research, LLC, 2009). There are several solutions which could lead to the decr...