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Spotlight On: Water Use In Agriculture In Europe
Although it’s certainly fair to say that we all have our part to play in reducing pressure on global freshwater supplies in order to prevent water stress and scarcity from becoming a bigger problem than it already is in the face of climate change and rising global temperatures, there is one industry in particular that needs to address its usage and consumption habits… and that’s agriculture.
The sector uses 70 per cent of all freshwater supplies around the world and approximately one-third of this goes towards meat and dairy production, with resources used to grow the crops that make intensive farming possible.
As climate change continues to bite, water resources are expected to dwindle and demand will soon start to outstrip supply, with additional pressure coming from population growth, water mismanagement, urbanisation, pollution and more frequent extreme weather events like flooding and drought.
While the majority of Europe currently has adequate water resources, drought and water scarcity are both now becoming more frequent and more widespread throughout the EU, according to the European Commission.
Because water has such a significant role to play in agriculture, the amount and quality of crops produced can be significantly affected by water scarcity. When production drops, food prices increase, which in turn puts food security and affordability at risk.
But it’s not just drought and water scarcity that are causing problems for food production at the moment. Water mismanagement is helping to make the situation worse, with agriculture responsible for almost a quarter of all abstraction levels in the EU, reducing availability for other purposes – such as drinking water.
Excessive irrigation and abstraction can also affect the quality of the water itself, increasing water temperatures and the concentration of pollutants, putting supplies at even greater risk.
Mounting tension
In June this year, the EU Council added water to its strategic agenda for 2024-2029 as a driver to help achieve a competitive and prosperous Europe, focusing on developing a sustainable and resilient agricultural sector to protect ecosystems and ensure food security by strengthening the EU’s resilience in water across the Union.
This will include investment in large-scale water infrastructure and cross-border infrastructure but, as Euractiv reports, it is possible that developments of this nature may lead to significant tension in the region, evidence of which is already being seen.
In Marais Poitevin, western France, for example, several thousand demonstrators recently came together to protest against the construction of open-air water reservoirs (also known as mega basins) that would enable farmers to secure access to water resources for agriculture.
These protests look set to continue later in the year, with the organisers planning a water convey from the Marais Poitevin to the Venice Lagoon, the aim of which is to sound the alarm against the construction of these mega basins and water pollution in Italy’s Veneto region.
Part of the problem with these mega basins is that, while they do harvest rainwater to reduce pressure on freshwater supplies, they also draw water from the ground during drier periods with little rainfall, which critics say affects wetlands and contributes to them drying up.
In Spain, meanwhile, water is stored in big pools (known as embalses), which take their water from rivers and surface water, rather than via rainwater harvesting and groundwater abstraction… but even this has its drawbacks, with studies showing that these pools struggle to replenish themselves during the summer months because of low rainfall. The news source noted that in 2023, only 50 per cent of their capacity was reached.
Speaking to Euractive, Julia Martinez – technical director of eco organisation the Fundacion Nueva Cultura del Agua, explained that cutting riverbeds leads to flooding in valleys, which means too much water accumulates on one side and intense droughts are caused on the other.
She went on to say that the use of these reservoirs is supplemented by private irrigation basins, which can be found all over Spain and which aren’t regulated, so farmers have no qualms about tapping into groundwater reserves.
How can agriculture become more water sustainable?
Sustainable water management in agriculture will only become more important as time goes on and water stress and scarcity becomes an increasingly pressing global concern.
Figures already show that nearly two-thirds of the world’s population (that’s some four billion people) experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year… and it’s expected that 50 per cent of the global population could live in places facing water scarcity by 2025.
The key for the agriculture industry will be to strike the right balance between enhancing crop yields and driving down environmental impacts and associated costs in order to build resilience into the farming system.
Work has been underway to identify strategies that can improve crop efficiency for water use, such as Horizon 2020 projects SolACE, TOMRES, Shui and BRESOV.
Novel solutions such as designing crop genotypes and agroecosystem management innovations, addressing climate-resilient cultivars to organic vegetable production systems and soil-water resources management under water scarce conditions are all now being investigated.
Other projects have been looking into how water management can be optimised and made more efficient, such as WATERAGRI, which focuses on sustainable solutions for water retention and nutrient recycling, and WATERPROTECT, which focuses on the effective uptake of management practices and mitigation measures to protect potable water resources.
Earlier this year, the Institute for European Environmental Policy published a report identifying that both short and long-term climate adaptation strategies would be required at different scales to ensure farming systems become more resilient.
It was found that – for wheat, potatoes and olives (three major EU agricultural crops) – sustainable cropping practices have the potential to maintain and improve biodiversity, as well as soil and water parameters, that can help shore up farming systems against current climate risks while helping them to adapt to future conditions as well.
To move forward with this approach, the report concluded that steps will have to be taken to support those farms and households engaged in agriculture, with policy instruments focusing on facilitating widespread adoption of practices that improve water conservation, soil quality and landscape and biodiversity.
Furthermore, targeted support should be provided and interventions designed to incentivise farmers and ensure access to the upfront investment they need to make the move to new ways of working.
And finally, member states were advised to support farmers in coming up with bespoke plans for improving resilience and sustainability, potentially setting up knowledge sharing platforms and workshops to disseminate information on sustainable practices that are relevant to specific farmers’ circumstances.
The adoption of sustainable cropping practices that could increase water resilience will become increasingly important as time goes on, but currently there is a bigger emphasis being placed on expanding irrigation installations and water storage.
However, this will only provide temporary relief and, as climate change continues to take hold and water becomes increasingly limited as a resource, demands from other quarters will start to affect the amount of water available to agriculture.
As such, finding new ways of working will become paramount for farmers in the EU… and beyond.