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Impact of Technology and Policy on Sustainable Agricultural Water Use and Food Security

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Convergence of Food Security, Energy Security and Sustainable Agriculture

Part of the book series: Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry ((AGRICULTURE,volume 67))

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Abstract

Water, soil, air, and sunlight are integrated components of food production. However, water is unique in that humans have been able to manipulate the supply of water, particularly for agrarian applications. A variety of technological innovations in plant breeding, biotech traits, and agronomic improvements have resulted in improved water use efficiency or engineering breakthroughs that result in increased sustainable irrigation techniques. Common to these innovations is investment in science to discover the solutions to the challenge of feeding the estimated 9.5 billion people expected to be living by the year 2050. Water sustainability will be an important factor that has to be addressed, not just in the USA, but globally. As water availability becomes an even more limiting factor, water legislation, regulation, and policy will play an ever-more important role. Managing the water requirements for food production, urban, recreational, and energy and industrial uses will require policy decisions at various levels of government.

When food is abundant there are many problems. When food is scarce there is only one problem – Chinese saying

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Mark Cooper and John Soper of Pioneer Hi-Bred and Christopher Fullerton of The University of Arizona for their contributions to this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emeritus Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    Mahbub Alam (Professor)

  2. West Central Research and Extension Center, University of Nebraska, North Platte, NE, 69101, USA

    Greg Kruger

  3. Water Resources Research Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85719, USA

    Sharon B. Megdal

  4. Research/Cell Biology, Cibus LLC, 6455 Nancy Ridge Drive, San Diego, CA, 92121, USA

    David Songstad

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  1. Mahbub Alam
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  2. Greg Kruger
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Correspondence to Mahbub Alam .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Director of Research/Cell Biology, Cibus LLC, San Diego, California, USA

    David D. Songstad

  2. National Laboratory for Agriculture and, USDA-ARS, Ames, Iowa, USA

    Jerry L. Hatfield

  3. Grimes, Iowa, USA

    Dwight T. Tomes

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Alam, M., Kruger, G., Megdal, S.B., Songstad, D. (2014). Impact of Technology and Policy on Sustainable Agricultural Water Use and Food Security. In: Songstad, D., Hatfield, J., Tomes, D. (eds) Convergence of Food Security, Energy Security and Sustainable Agriculture. Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, vol 67. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55262-5_5

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