Improving Water Management in Agriculture

Dr Jerry W. Knox is based within the Centre for Water, Environment and Development at Cranfield University, UK. As Professor of Agricultural Water Management, Jerry has an international reputation in the science, engineering and management of water for agriculture, including assessing the relationships between water resources, crop productivity and the environment, and the sustainability of agricultural production in the context of a changing climate. His research interests are in biophysical and water resource modelling, irrigation agronomy, soil and irrigation management, abiotic (drought) impacts on crop productivity and climate impacts and adaptation responses in agriculture. He was previously Editor for Outlook on Agriculture and Associate Editor for Irrigation Science. Stephen H. Anderson is the William A. Albrecht Distinguished Professor of Soil and Environmental Sciences in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri, USA. His current areas of research include evaluating soil management effects on soil hydraulic properties, developing X-ray computed tomography and microtomography techniques to assess pore-scale soil properties and processes, and utilizing hydrologic models to evaluate effectiveness of conservation practices at the watershed scale. Henk Ritzema is a former Associate Professor at the Water Resources Management Chair Group of Wageningen University. He retired in September 2020. Henk Ritzema has published over 160 articles, books and reports and is a regular invited speaker at international conferences and workshops. Dr Juan Antonio Rodriguez is Professor of Hydraulics and Irrigation Engineering at the University of Córdoba, Spain. He has more than 20 years worth of experience in research, education and consultancy in the field of hydraulics and irrigation water resources management. He has authored over 100 papers in scientific peer reviewed journals (h index of 23 in JCR and 24 in Scopus) and has participated in 60 research and consultancy projects (project leader in 22). Water resources, irrigation management and institutional development specialist with over 40 years experience in some 32 countries. He has an international reputation in the fields of water management, performance assessment, benchmarking, asset management and institutional development. He has worked extensively in India and, with his co-authors M.G. Shivakumar, Rahul Sen, Kuppannan Palanisami and Lance Gore, prepared Phase 1 of the Asian Development Bank supported programme for modernisation of major and medium irrigation schemes in India. María Fernanda Ortuño Gallud received her degree in Agricultural Engineering from Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, in 2000 and her PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Murcia, Spain, in 2004. Currently she is Tenured Scientist at CSIC (since 2011). She is member of the Irrigation Department of CEBAS-CSIC.

Part 1 Current and future water demands for agriculture



1. Reconciling water needs for food, the environment, energy and society – a quadrilemma facing the future of global irrigated agriculture: Jerry W. Knox, Cranfield University, UK;
2. Monitoring agricultural water use: challenges and solutions for sustainable water management: T. Foster, University of Manchester, UK; C. D. Pérez-Blanco, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain; and G. Schmidt, Fresh Thoughts Consulting, Austria;
3. Forecasting future global agricultural water demand: current projections and future challenges: Upali A. Amarasinghe and Giriraj Amaranath, International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka; and Alok Sikka, International Water Management Institute, India;

Part 2 Improving agricultural water management practices



4. Agronomic practices for optimising soil water retention: Samuel I. Haruna, Middle Tennessee State University, USA; and Stephen H. Anderson, University of Missouri, USA;
5. Advances in drainage design and management for irrigated agriculture: Henk Ritzema, Wageningen University, The Netherlands;
6. Crop physiological responses to irrigation and regulatory mechanisms: Ian C. Dodd, Lancaster University, UK; Katharina Huntenburg, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands; and Juan Gabriel Pérez-Pérez, Valencian Institute of Agricultural Research, Spain;
7. Managing energy demands in irrigated agriculture: J. A. Rodríguez Díaz, A. Mérida García, R. González Perea and I. Fernández García, University of Córdoba, Spain;
8. Solar-powered irrigation systems: recent developments and future trends: Muhammad Arif Watto, CSIRO Environment Business Unit, Australia; Maria Shabir, University of Foggia, Italy; Ali Sher, School of Management, Guangzhou University, China; and Muhammad Awais Ali Khan, Independent Researcher, UK;

Part 3 Improving water resources allocation and management



9. Advances in farmer-led irrigation development in Africa: Phil Woodhouse, University of Manchester, UK;
10. Managing the irrigation efficiency paradox to “free” water for the environment: Bruce Lankford, University of East Anglia, UK; and Matthew McCartney, International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka;
11. Developments in water sharing and water trading: Juliane Haensch, University of Göttingen, Germany; and Sarah Ann Wheeler, University of Adelaide, Australia;
12. Modernizing major and medium irrigation schemes in India: formulating a programme of change: Martin Burton, Water Resources and Irrigation Management, UK; M. G. Shivakumar, Asian Development Bank; India; Rahul Sen, Water Resources Policy and Institutions, India; Kuppannan Palanisami, International Water Management Institute, India; and Lance Gore, Asian Development Bank, The Philippines;

Part 4 Addressing future water and climate risks



13. PRECIMED: development of a decision support system (DSS) for precision irrigation in Mediterranean agriculture: María F. Ortuño, Andrés Parra, Juan J. Alarcón and María J. Gómez-Bellot, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CEBAS-CSIC), Spain; Antonio Skarmeta, Manuel Mora and Rafael Marín, Odin Solutions S.L. (ODINs), Spain; Nikolaos Katsoulas, Sofia Faliagka and Dimitris K. Papanastasiou, University of Thessaly (UTH), Greece; Mohammed Semiani, Farouk Eddine Belkhiri and Smadhi Dalila, National Institute of Agronomic Research of Algeria (INRAA), Algeria; and Khouloud Boukadi, Rima Grati and Bassem Bouaziz, University of Sfax (OPTIM), Tunisia;
14. Integrating biophysical and hydraulic models to assess the agronomic and environmental impacts of precision irrigation: A. Daccache, University of California, USA; and J. W. Knox and T. M. Hess, Cranfield University, UK;
15. Managing the impacts of climate change, droughts and water scarcity on agriculture: Ray-Shyan Wu, National Central University, Taiwan; and Fiaz Hussain, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan;
16. The water–energy–food nexus (WEF): Oscar Melo, Sadurní Vendrell and William Foster, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile;