Water Footprint of Crop Productions

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Use and Irrigation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 June 2021) | Viewed by 7356

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Division of Agronomy, University of Göttingen, Wilhelmsplatz 1, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Interests: water engineering and management; water footprint and water productivity; drought and aridity; water security; estimation of evapotranspiration in urban greenery and agricultural farmlands using ground-based, modeling, and remote sensing approaches
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Guest Editor
Department of Agroforestry Science, University of Seville, Ctra. Utrera Km 1, 41013 Seville, Spain
Interests: irrigation management; deficit irrigation; climate change; plant ecophysiology; water stress; water relations; water footprint; water use efficiency; water productivity; water saving; droughts and water scarcity; plant nutrition; evapotranspiration and plant modelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

 Increasing global food demand has had major impacts on agricultural water management strategies during the past several decades. The resulting alterations often have helped to increase crop yields and total food production. However, it has not been without ecological consequences such as extensive overexploitation or contamination of limited freshwater resources.

The use of water for agriculture is increasing the severity of water scarcity in most areas and causing shortages even in areas having access to sufficient water resources but may suffer scarcities at certain times of the year or in specific years. Moreover, climate change is expected to disrupt hydrological regimes and the availability of fresh water, a fact that impacts both rainfed and irrigated agriculture. This is why water scarcity has received global attention recently as the most urgent food security issue.

Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to gather novel and recent studies looking at the water footprint of crop production. We are particularly interested in the use of the concept of water footprint to address water management challenges in agriculture in different geographical and climate settings. Submissions should seek to make progress in the application of water footprint studies in scarcity, sustainability, security, uncertainty, and equity studies on the field, basin, national, or global scales using in-situ, modelling, and remote sensing methods.

All types of manuscripts (original research, reviews, etc.) are welcome.

Dr. Hamideh Nouri
Dr. Alejandro Galindo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • water footprint assessment
  • water scarcity
  • water and food security
  • sustainability
  • water productivity
  • uncertainty and ambiguity
  • water footprint reduction strategies

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 670 KiB  
Article
How Consumers Perceive Water Sustainability (HydroSOStainable) in Food Products and How to Identify It by a Logo
by Paola Sánchez-Bravo, Edgar Chambers V, Luis Noguera-Artiaga, Esther Sendra, Edgar Chambers IV and Ángel A. Carbonell-Barrachina
Agronomy 2020, 10(10), 1495; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10101495 - 1 Oct 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2729
Abstract
Water is the most essential resource for food production and socioeconomic development worldwide. Currently, industry and agriculture are the most water consuming activities, creating high levels of pollution, and intensifying the scarcity of water especially in arid regions. The term “hydroSOStainable products” has [...] Read more.
Water is the most essential resource for food production and socioeconomic development worldwide. Currently, industry and agriculture are the most water consuming activities, creating high levels of pollution, and intensifying the scarcity of water especially in arid regions. The term “hydroSOStainable products” has been used to define those foodstuffs grown under irrigation strategies that involve optimized water management. A study to understand how consumers perceive options to save water in the food chain and how to identify the water sustainable products by a logo, was conducted in Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Spain and USA, with 600 consumers per country. In all countries, consumers think that the food categories in which it is possible to save the most water are those linked directly to agricultural products: (i) “grains and grain products” and (ii) “vegetables, nuts and beans”. Also, consumers do not associate processed products, such as snacks, with high water consumption, even though they come from agricultural products such as grains and require more processing. The logo was positively rated by consumers, especially by young generations. There is a need to properly inform consumers about water sustainability to gain their confidence in the hydroSOS logo. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Footprint of Crop Productions)
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18 pages, 7487 KiB  
Article
Adaptation of a Traditional Irrigation System of Micro-Plots to Smart Agri Development: A Case Study in Murcia (Spain)
by Jesús Chazarra-Zapata, Dolores Parras-Burgos, Carlos Arteaga, Antonio Ruiz-Canales and José Miguel Molina-Martínez
Agronomy 2020, 10(9), 1365; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10091365 - 10 Sep 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3742
Abstract
Currently, water users associations (WUAs) in semi-arid areas of southeastern Spain (Murcia region) send a multitude of data supplied by sensors in the field to the cloud. The constant technological revolution offers opportunities for small farms not to be abandoned, thanks to the [...] Read more.
Currently, water users associations (WUAs) in semi-arid areas of southeastern Spain (Murcia region) send a multitude of data supplied by sensors in the field to the cloud. The constant technological revolution offers opportunities for small farms not to be abandoned, thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT). This technology allows them to continue to manage remotely using smartphones/tablets/laptops. This new system contributes to the mitigation of climate change from several aspects: reduction of water footprint and energy consumption (in the pumps that pressurize the grid, such as in the optimization of the proposed solution, by using batteries that communicate in low radiation of electric and magnetic alternating fields (LoRad), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), or clean energy). The analysis of these data and the incorporation of new IoT technologies facilitate the maintenance of green roofs and ensure the continuity of these farms. The direct benefit obtained is remarkable CO2 removal that prevents desertification by the abandonment of arable land. This communication shows the implementation of a Smart Agri system in areas with micro-plots (surface less than 0.5 ha) with low-cost technology based on long-range (LoRa) systems, easily maintainable by personnel with basic knowledge of automation, which transforms into a very interesting solution for regions with development roads. In addition, complex orography and difficult access are added in both physical and technological environments. The main technical limitations found in such plots are poor coverage for mobile phones and unworkable and expensive implementation by wiring or WiFi/radio systems. Currently, thanks to the Smart Agri system implemented in this WUA in Murcia, farmers can manage and control the irrigation systems in their plots from home. Then, they cannot lose their crops and respect the isolation conditions imposed by the Spanish government as a result of the alarm caused by COVID-19. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Footprint of Crop Productions)
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