Agricultural Water Management 147 (2015) 13
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Agricultural Water Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat
Preface
Agricultural water management: Priorities and challenges
In the past few decades, advances in agricultural research lead to
substantial increases in food production (e.g. Green Revolution in
Asia and Latin America in the 1980s). However, the question of food
security is again high-up on the international agenda because of a
number of factors such as population growth, socio-political issues,
inadequate agricultural infrastructures, land degradation, heavy
disease burden, poor soils and unfavourable climate. The problem
is enhanced by climate change and its effects on agricultural pro-
ductivity and production stability. Large arid and semi-arid areas in
the world have high potential in terms of agricultural productivity,
however water is the main limiting factor for production. Added to
that, these areas are usually ecologically sensitive, prone to envi-
ronmental degradation and in need of narrowing social inequities.
As a result, one of the main challenges remains the improvement of
agricultural water management when the availability and quality
of fresh water resources and the sustainable use of soil resources
are under increasing pressure. Given the physical limitations of
natural resources (e.g. land and water), the link between food secu-
rity, land use and water resources is inevitable. New strategies and
management options are required in order to address water use,
performance and productivity of agricultural systems.
The International Commission of Agricultural and Biosys-
tems Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Gnie
Rural) is an international non-prot organisation that aims at
addressing these problems through development and exchange
of science and technology in the eld of agricultural engineer-
ing and related sciences. It was founded in 1930 and presently
has the mission of serving the needs of humanity by foster-
ing mutual understanding, improvement and rationalization of
sustainable biological production systems while protecting nature
and environment and managing landscape through the advance-
ment of engineering and allied sciences (http://www.cigr.org/
accessed on 18 July 2014). The Centre International de Hautes
Etudes Agronomiques Mditerranennes (CIHEAM) is an inter-
governmental organisation of Mediterranean countries that
provides post-graduate specialised education, networked research
and facilitation of the regional debate. The Mediterranean Agro-
nomic Institute of Bari (Italy) is one of the four research centres
established by CIHEAM. The CIGR and CIHEAM organised the
1st CIGR Inter-Regional Conference on Land and Water Chal-
lenges under the theme Water, environment and agriculture:
challenges for sustainable development in September 2013
(http://www.landandwater2013.iamb.it/index.html accessed on
29 July 2014).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2014.08.021
0378-3774/ 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.
The main objective of this conference was to present and dis-
cuss the latest achievements in the eld of sustainable use of water
and other natural resources at different scales and to promote a
better development of irrigated agriculture in the future. The con-
ference was articulated into several sessions, including water use
performance, water productivity, sustainability, conservation and
economics of water use in agriculture, innovative decision sup-
port systems, data acquisition, communication technologies and
modelling tools, irrigation technologies and practices for environ-
mental upgrading, climate change impacts and policies, governance
and institutional development. Given the importance and variety
of topics addressed, as well as the expectations and constituency of
the contributors, the Editorial Team deemed that the 1st CIGR Inter-
Regional Conference on Land and Water Challenges would provide
a good barometer on the perceptions of the scientic community on
the current priorities and challenges in agricultural water manage-
ment. A special issue emanating from this conference was therefore
planned and compiled. The aim of the special issue was to synthe-
sise the conference contributions in dening priorities, challenges
and future directions for research in agricultural water manage-
ment.
The research studies presented at the conference and included
in the special issue cover a large number of topics: from irrigation
management at eld level (e.g. crop water and fertilisation require-
ments) to large scale irrigation management (e.g. catchment and
irrigation schemes), from strategic priorities (e.g. responses to
climate change) to downscaling of information (e.g. precision
irrigation and geostatistics), from innovative farm-scale practices
(e.g. particle lm technologies) to specic problem applications
(e.g. urban landscape irrigation management).
Much research work related to improving irrigation perfor-
mance at farm scale. A review paper by Pereira et al. (2014)
highlighted that the widespread adoption of the concepts described
in the FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56 for the estimation
of crop water requirements is justied mainly by the simplicity
and robustness of the procedures. Pereira et al. (2014) discussed
the pros and cons of the FAO 56 two-stage method for estimating
crop water requirements and debated about alternative computa-
tional procedures due to unavailability of full datasets or relative
to using non-observational data sets. Authors carefully discussed
the concepts, robustness and transferability of Kc values and the
need to distinguish these standard Kc from those that reect local
cultivation conditions in terms of climate, soil, and water and crop
management, i.e. the actual or locally adjusted Kc . The review has
2 Preface / Agricultural Water Management 147 (2015) 13
shown that the ETref Kc approach is easy to understand, easy to
compare across regions and climates, and easy to be built into com-
puter models when the basic concepts are assumed. It is therefore
likely that this approach will still be in use for a long time, with
due developments such as the progressive build-up of the popu-
lation of Kc databases, the adoption of remote sensing data and,
in particular, the adoption of the dual Kc approach for partitioning
evapotranspiration into plant transpiration and soil evaporation. To
this effect, the SIMDualKc model proved to be reliable once properly
calibrated, as demonstrated by Wei et al. (2014) in an application
to soybean in North China that included a test of the partitioning to
soil evaporation. The FAO No. 56 approach was also used by Snyder
et al. (2014) in their study on urban landscape irrigation manage-
ment by retaining ETref combined with a landscape coefcient that
characterises the diverse type of landscape vegetation, i.e. adopting
the ETref KL approach.
Innovative technologies and strategies at the farm scale con-
tinue to be priorities in research. For example, Boari et al. (2014)
provided evidence that kaolin can be efciently utilised to enhance
tolerance of plants to water stress and salinity, reduce transplant
shock and save water in dry regions. Ouazaa et al. (2014) proposed a
new simulation model coupling intermittent movement of centre-
pivot towers and the ballistic theory of water distribution patterns
from sprinkler nozzles to improve the design and operation of
centre-pivots. The synergies of improved irrigation water and fertil-
isation management were investigated through both experimental
work (Oppong Danso et al., 2014) and modelling (Abi Saab et al.,
2014).
Irrigation management at large scale also drew interest in terms
of utilisation and conservation of both surface water and ground-
water. Jiang et al. (2014) coupled a distributed agro-hydrological
model (SWAP-EPIC) and GIS to assess irrigation performance and
water productivity in the arid middle reaches of Heihe River
basin (North-West China) over a large irrigation district of almost
20,000 ha. The authors pointed out that 15% water saving could
be achieved by integrating the improved regulation of canal water
conveyance and distribution with equity in water deliveries, as well
as through an improved irrigation scheduling and basin irrigation
with adoption of proper land levelling. Giordano et al. (2014)
reported on the implementation of Bayesian Belief Networks to
assess farmers acceptability of groundwater protection policies in
the large irrigated area of the Capitanata Irrigation Users Organi-
zation (Southern Italy). Authors discussed the actual effectiveness
of groundwater protection policies as well as synergies and con-
icts between Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and groundwater
protection policies. The impact of the CAP on farmers decision on
water use was demonstrated. Vuolo et al. (2014) presented a novel
satellite-based irrigation advisory service combined with webGIS
tools and its application to three different irrigation schemes and
environments of Southern Italy, Austria and Southern Australia.
Competition for land and water within the agricultural sector
and other sectors is becoming tighter. This requires the implemen-
tation of specic water use efcient strategies in a variety of farming
and production systems. For example, Krau et al. (2014) compared
several strategies for water productivity in full-chain dairy farm-
ing systems. They found that milk yield, feeding strategies and cow
replacement rate affect water productivity in a milk-production
system in that order of importance. Moreover, they found that
milk yield has the strongest inuence on water productivity, with
increasing milk yield increasing the water productivity of milk pro-
duction. The importance of ethics in support of equitable decisions
on water allocation was discussed by Rossi (2014), including the
role of international water law in global water issues and ethical
principles on water rights and water governance and manage-
ment, as well as the role that international institutions may play
to address current water challenges.
It was indicative that several articles demonstrated interest of
the scientic community in addressing climate change issues (e.g.
Voloudakis et al., 2014). For example, Saadi et al. (2014) simu-
lated irrigation requirements and yields of wheat and tomato in
the Mediterranean region, based on state-of-the-art projections of
climatic changes. Simulation results led to practical recommen-
dations that could support strategic decisions in specic climatic
regions, such as the possible need for supplemental irrigation of
winter wheat in the Northern Mediterranean and priority water
use for irrigation of high-value summer horticultural crops in the
Southern and Eastern Mediterranean. Projected changes in climate
also warrant investigating new/alternative crops and cropping sys-
tems. The Crops for the Future Research Centre (CFFRC, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia) was established as the worlds rst centre ded-
icated to research on under-utilised crops (Azam-Ali et al., 2014).
The CFFRC is developing CropBASE, an interactive web-based pro-
gramme for decision support, knowledge sharing and comparison
of under-utilised crop productivity and resource use efciency
under current and future climate scenarios. The introduction of
new crops with different potential end-uses and resilience char-
acteristics may reduce current vulnerabilities of farming practices
to climate variability.
Recent research dedicated particular attention to the linkages
between different scales of water management and operation, such
as the role of geostatistical methods, remote sensing and preci-
sion agriculture. For example, Landrum et al. (2014) used proximal
sensing, soil sampling and geostatistical methods to subdivide agri-
cultural elds into homogeneous management units and develop
soil moisture management strategies for water stressed condi-
tions to support farmers decisions in Central Kentucky (USA).
The ndings of Vuolo et al. (2014) conrmed the applicability of
satellite-based technologies for the near real-time monitoring of
canopy development and estimation of crop water and irrigation
requirements at plot scale. Daccache et al. (2014) demonstrated
that precision irrigation can contribute to improving crop produc-
tivity, water and energy efciency, although to a limited extent
in humid areas and depending on the type of crops and practices.
Precision irrigation could also limit the environmental impact of
agriculture.
We hope that this special issue will provide some directions
to the scientic community in terms of priorities for research.
The general message emanating from the conference is that global
changes (including climate) are expected to occur that will impact
water and land availability to the agricultural sector, represent a
hazard to the environment, whilst food production needs to be
increased in volumes and quality to satisfy the ever increasing
population and improve its livelihood. It is clear that sets of strate-
gies and solutions need to be applied to mitigate the complexities
of these challenges, both at small scale (e.g. eld or farm) and at
large operational scales (e.g. irrigation district, catchment, region,
country). Furthermore, linkages between the different scales of
operation need to be investigated, such as the impact of intro-
duction of innovative management practices at small scale with
the improved estimation of yields and water use at high spatial
resolution. This should facilitate the widespread application of
technologies (e.g. precision agriculture) and adaptation measures
(e.g. agronomic and irrigation practices) aimed at achieving better
performance of agricultural production.
Although more models are being produced capable to describe
complex systems, it is anticipated that the Kc approach will live on
into the future, at least as a reference and quality assurance/quality
control mechanism on observed and simulated data. In the years
to come, the climate is likely going to be more uncertain and
adverse and a more detailed elaboration of water (salinity and heat)
stress will be a must. Developments in modelling will be required
to describe the complexities of the biophysical world, such as
 Preface / Agricultural Water Management 147 (2015) 13 3

non-standard conditions and landscapes, application of remote Irrigation management of large systems
sensing data to agricultural water management and upscaling of Giordano, R., DAgostino, D., Apollonio, C., Scardigno, A., Pagano, A., Por-
toghese, I., Lamaddalena, N., Piccinni, A.F., Vurro, M., 2014. Evaluating
information to large scale basins. acceptability of groundwater protection measures under different agricultural
policies.
Jiang, Y., Xu, X., Huang, Q., Huo, Z., Huang, G., 2014. Assessment of irrigation perfor-
In memoriam of Antonio Martinez-Cob mance and water productivity in irrigated areas of the middle Heihe river basin
using a distributed agro-hydrological model.
A special dedication goes to the memory of our dear colleague Vuolo, F., DUrso, G., De Michele, C., Bianchi, B., Cutting, M., 2014. Satellite-based
Irrigation Advisory Services: a common tool for different experiences from
Dr Antonio Martinez-Cob, who passed away suddenly on July 21st, Europe to Australia.
2014. He participated at the CIGR Conference in Bari and con- Rossi, G., 2014. Achieving ethical responsibilities in water management: a challenge.
tributed to this special issue as a reviewer. Antonio Martnez-Cob
(Research Group Irrigation, Agronomy and the Environment (CSIC- Climate change impacts
CITA), Department of Soil and Water, Aula Dei Experimental Station, Saadi, S., Todorovic, M., Tanasijevic, L., Pereira, L.S., Pizzigalli, C., Lionello, P.,
2014. Climate change and Mediterranean agriculture: impacts on winter
CSIC, Zaragoza, Spain) was an accomplished scientist. According wheat and tomato crop evapotranspiration, irrigation requirements and
to the Web of Science, Antonio is in the all-time top-ten list of yield.
scientists publishing on evapotranspiration for irrigation or agri- Voloudakis, D., Karamanos, A., Economou, G., Kalivas, D., Vahamidis, P.,
Kotoulas, V., Kapsomenakis, J., Zerefos, C., 2014. Prediction of climate
culture. His research interests included the spatial distribution
change impacts on cotton yields in Greece under eight climatic mod-
of evapotranspiration, the evaluation of reference evapotranspi- els using the AquaCrop crop simulation model and discriminant function
ration equations, the use of weighing lysimeters for short-time analysis.
Azam-Ali, S.N., Karunaratne, A.S., Walker, S., 2014. Assessing the productivity and
evapotranspiration measurement, the development of microm-
resource-use-efciency of underutilised crops: towards an integrative system.
eteorological evapotranspiration methods, and the deployment
of sap ow measurement methods in herbaceous and woody
Precision irrigation
crops. Sixteen out of his fty-two indexed articles were pub- Daccache, A., Knox, J.W., Weatherhead, E.K., Daneshkhah, A., Hess, T.M., 2014.
lished in Agricultural Water Management. This was his reference Implementing precision irrigation in a humid climate recent experiences and
journal for articles aiming at improving water use standards in irri- on-going challenges.
Landrum, C., Castrignan, A., Mueller, T., Zourarakis, D., Zhu, J., De Benedetto, D.,
gated agriculture. Antonios accomplishments go beyond scientic 2014. An approach for delineating homogeneous within-eld zones using prox-
publications: he authored practice books on evapotranspiration, imal sensing and multivariate geostatistics.
contributed to the design of networks of automatic weather sta-
tions, trained young researchers and practitioners, and effectively Specic tools and cases
disseminated his research ndings. Moreover, he completed 14 Boari, F., Donadio, A., Schiattone, M.I., Cantore, V., 2014. Particle lm technology: a
supplemental tool to save water.
reviews for the Agricultural Water Management journal, keeping Ouazaa, S., Latorre, B., Burguete, J., Serreta, A., Playn, E., Salvador, R., Paniagua, P.,
his personal rating as reviewer always at 100/100. Zapata, N., 2014. Effect of the start-stop cycle of center-pivot towers on irrigation
Antonio Martinez-Cob was an exceptional colleague and performance: experiments and simulations.
Krau, M., Kraatz, S., Drastig, K., Prochnow, A., 2014. The inuence of management
scholar. These few words aim to acknowledge his approach to life strategies on water productivity in dairy farming.
and science of being tenacious, modest and unpretentious. He Snyder, R.L., Pedras, C., Montazar, A., Henry, J.M., Ackley, D., 2014. Advances in ET-
leaves an indelible footprint in our memory and warmness around based landscape irrigation management.
our hearts. Antonios approach helped many people feeling and
becoming better. Guest Editor
Thank you and rest in peace, Antonio. M. Todorovic
CIHEAM Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of
Bari, Valenzano, BA, Italy
Acknowledgments
Guest Editor
The Editorial and Publishing Team of Agricultural Water Man- N. Lamaddalena
agement are thanked for agreeing to host this special issue. We CIHEAM Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of
also thank all Authors for their enthusiasm and dedication, and the Bari, Valenzano, BA, Italy
anonymous reviewers for contributing to the improvement of all Editor in Chief
papers. N. Jovanovic
CSIR, Natural Resources and Environment, South
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Wei, Z., Paredes, P., Liu, Y., Chi, W.-W., Pereira, L.S., 2014. Modelling transpiration,
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