Growers and Grocers

Environmentalists know that fresh water is a looming global crisis. At the recent World Water Forum, reports an article at Wired News, experts suggested that a large part of the problem is inefficient water use by farmers. The article closes with cross-border debates that have already sprung up about water availability, conflicts which are sure to heat up as water becomes less available.

Farmers might not like the findings of the Forum, but agriculture accounts for 70 per cent of the global use of fresh water, and a disproportionate amount of the wasted water. Any gain in water efficiency for farms will have a bigger effect than water savings in a suburban household. No one’s suggesting we cut off water to farms; instead, researchers want to find ways to reclaim or minimize the waste.