Experts Meet to Discuss Irrigated Agriculture

A small workshop was held at the Pardee Center on February 1, 2008 to discuss current knowledge and challenges related to role of irrigation in global agricultural systems.

Rising water demands greatly outweigh greenhouse warming in defining the state of global water systems in the recent past and the near future. Over the last 50 years, irrigated area has increased nearly 6-fold, from 0.5 to 2.8 million km2, and intensive irrigation has lead to an oversubscription of water resources and reliance on non-renewable water stores in many parts of the work. Such oversubscription will lead to significant challenges in the coming years, especially in developing countries.

Participants included Mark Friedl from Boston University, Dr. Navin Ramankutty from McGill University in Montreal, Dr. Steven Frolking from the University of New Hampshire, Dr. Mutlu Ozdogan from the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at the University of Wisconsin, and Dr. Ellen Douglas from the University of Massachusetts. A small number of research staff and graduate students from each institution also participated. Discussions focused on defining the current state of knowledge regarding irrigation and agricultural systems worldwide, and identification of priority areas for research in the coming years.