ARTICLE: Growing Food and a “Thirst” for Innovation

Below is an excerpt from an interview with Wayne Parrott, posted by Food Insight.

Water is kind of a big deal. Without it, there would be no farms, no food, no anything (except rocks).The earth would basically be a more temperate version of Mars. This World Water Week, we’re taking a moment to reflect on how technology is helping us to conserve this precious resource in food production.

Agriculture is estimated to be the biggest single user of earth’s freshwater. Technologies that help farmers use less water can translate into major gains in global water conservation. The amount of water used for irrigation (growing crops) in the US has dropped significantly since 1980, largely due to improvements in technologies like plant breeding and irrigation systems. But there’s more great news. Researchers are still making major progress when it comes to technologies that reduce the amount of water needed for agriculture.

We spoke with agriculture expert Wayne Parrott, PhD, an expert in plant breeding at the University of Georgia, who gave us the inside scoop on how new technologies are helping farmers use less water.

FoodInsight: How is technology helping farmers use less water to grow their crops?

WP: The development of crops that use water more efficiently is an important part of the solution. Another important part is technology that saves water by sensing how much a water a plant needs and delivering just the right amount needed for each individual plant.