New Water Management Tools for an Emerging Ag Landscape
March 7, 2023 
Water is one of the most basic elements of any type of agriculture production system, and this precious resource is under more stress than at any time in our history. From a changing climate and drought to regulation and increasing expectations for sustainability efforts, the development and adoption of technologies to use water more efficiently and effectively is paramount.
The new “Water, Technology, and Sustainability” digital report from the editors at Meister Media Worldwide, part of the 2023 Global Insight Series, dives deep into topics such as the California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, technologies to address drought, digital modeling for weather, and worldwide market views from companies on the front lines.
With all of the factors mentioned above in play for growers, making optimal water decisions is more critical — but also more challenging — than ever. Technology developments, enhanced tools for using data, and entirely different approaches to dealing with abiotic conditions like water stress are giving growers options as using water more efficiently and effectively becomes a top priority for agriculture.
All of these issues are impacting growers today, says Al Klapp, Market Development Manager for Valagro.
“When I think about water issues, my mind immediately goes to California. As an industry, we’ve been dealing with a multi-year drought. We’ve been getting some rain lately, but it is still probably not enough to replenish reservoirs and groundwater needed to support agriculture and the municipal requirements of a growing population, particularly in drought years — which seems to be most years now. I think that’s going to be exacerbated a little bit by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) as that starts to roll out in California. We’ll see that groundwater piece become more and more important,” he says. “It’s pretty clear there isn’t enough water, and we need to use it better.”
Pressures from the market are impacting water decisions as well.
“I think the sustainability expectations are only going to become a bigger motivation for growers. That’s driven right now from consumers, and it’s starting to trickle down to the packing houses and processing companies, and ultimately that’s going to start to move down to the grower level. I’m already seeing that happen in wine grapes. We’re at a point with sustainability that it’s a regular question that we get during conversations with growers and retailers, and I expect that emphasis is only going to increase in the future,” Klapp says.
Learn more in the full report here.
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