Water Conservation of Farmers

Introduction

Sustainable agriculture entails the farming practices that allow for nutrient replenishment and fertility for supporting future population. Due to the continual growth of populations across the world, farming practices should integrate measures for environmental protection and conservation of natural resources, such as water reservoirs and rainwater. The sustainable agricultural practices established in light of the global goals revolve around the economic, social, and environmental support for people. In this case, land under agriculture is often evaluated to support diverse crops over a long period rather than get depleted within few years of tilling. Most importantly, water resource around farming areas should be protected to ensure continuous growing of crops throughout the year. Watershed conservation and management is among the vital practices since it promotes creation of various plans, projects, and programs aimed at enhancing the wellbeing of the environment. This claim is based on the perception that water conservation for agricultural practices limit erosion, flooding, poor water quality, and community water shortages.

The focus of this review entails meeting the research gap on farmers’ contribution that define water conservation concerning the nature of agricultural practices based on the present management projects and initiatives. For this study water conservation considerations contributed towards the undertaking of the current literature review. In this regard, lack of proper recognition of opportunities and challenges for coordinated and effective management of both natural and artificial water resources presents a current agricultural crisis for farmers across the world. In this case, the present water conservation methods indicate that farmers adopt ineffective practices, hence higher cases of degradation of natural resources and general deterioration of wellbeing of the surrounding communities.

In efforts to come up with relevant finding, the researcher conducted a systemic literature review through an initial process relating to water conservation practices among farmers across the world. Afterward, both secondary and primary data were collected through methods, such as content analysis, official documents, and review of publications. Although the study had some limitations, the obtained results indicated that agricultural practices by farmers across the United States are sustainable regarding the use of water resources available. However, there was the importance of coming up with more water conservation projects and initiatives in future to ensure that farming continuously provide its benefits to the general population in the face of climate change impacts on natural water sources.

Search strategy

The goal of this scoping assessment was to thoroughly research and report on the current condition of water conservation methods in relation to current initiatives and programs to sustain and develop agriculture across the United States. Furthermore, the team sought to identify the types of barriers and enablers that farmers face during water conservation activities. A thorough literature search was conducted to discover what is already known about the research subject and where further information is required. The team used no linguistic or technique constraints when searching. As a type of forwards citation searching, Scopus and ISI Web of Science were utilized to filter for research publications that were cited in the included papers.

Researchers used browsing and basic search tactics on the sources to derive information. In order to gather data for water conservation and water usage planning since 2020, searches were conducted across the following websites and databases in alphabetical order;

Table 1: Search strategy outcomes

To find further qualitative evidence for the issue, a search of grey literature was conducted in addition to searches of bibliographic databases. The research question “is the present water conservation approach by farmers across the United States sustainable?” was used as the guide dictionary of population terms. The databases and websites searched had their respective intervention terms as listed below;

Farming with water/

Water conservation/

Watershed management/

Natural water sources/

Food agriculture/

Water technology in farming/

The research team got a deeper grasp of the nature of the available literature as they moved through the study selection process, and they updated and reapplied the initial criteria to better represent the importance of the issue that had motivated the scoping review. The publication type, research design, year, technique, country, and outcome variables were all retrieved. One reviewer retrieved and summarized data from the included study, which was then validated by a second reviewer. The team was able to detect gaps in the literature while assembling and summarizing the data by using criteria such as research design, issue area, setting, implementation-strategy cluster, related barriers and facilitators, and outcome.

Eligibility criteria for the literature and content entailed the plan where studies were selected if they either

1. i) examined farmers’ practices regarding water irrigation and use or
2. ii) investigated current barriers to implementation and the methods employed to harness natural water sources

Studies that incorporated farming methods other than water conservation and protection were not included unless the results were published independently for the sub-group with water conservation. This effort’s team considered studies throughout the whole range of water source preservation, from basic farming techniques to communal initiatives to safeguard water supplies. The team’s computational searches yielded eleven citations. After removing duplicates and skimming abstracts, the team chose seven publications for full-text review, of which three matched the inclusion requirements. The researchers conducted a search query to the database and selected websites, and returned 8 relevant publications and studies in return. The researchers discovered one additional relevant publication using forward citation searching. Four articles satisfied the requirements for this scoping review and were later examined.

Review

Adusumilli and Wang (2018)

Using a bivariate model, Adusumilli and Wang’s (2018) research focuses on the practices that farmers in humid-south of the United States adopt to ameliorate water shortage concerns. Categorically, the authors point out a list of on-farm practices for farmers in the south US region to enhance water conservation for agriculture. For instance, the farmers have subscribed to a suite of Best Management Practices (BMPs) that include measures of nutrient management, irrigation efficiency, and water quality protection. From the analysis, although farmers individually make efforts to preserve water sources and irrigation systems, there is a need to implement various conservation strategies. In this research, data was collected through a 2016 Nutrient Management Survey conducted by the Louisiana Master Farmer Program to assess the acceptability and adoptability of water conservation practices highlighted under the BMPs.

The contentious issue from the bivariate probit regression by Adusumilli and Wang (2018) indicate that perception of farmers towards essence of water and risks of water shortage defined the adoption of conservatory measures regarding natural sources and usability. In this case, water conservation is defined and practiced along with familiar routines of farming across the south humid area in the United States. Therefore, many of United States farmers prefer to consider water source protection based on the influence of on-farm activities, previous engagement in conservation programs, and land ownership. As a result, policy development for water conservation among farmers can succeed when producer educational attainment is formulated towards methods that promote the likelihood of adopting conservation techniques.

Ranjan et al. (2020)

The journal revolves around conservation practices in agricultural and central placement of farmers in the agenda towards sustainability. The authors note that the use of a decision support tool (DST) known as the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) in conservation planning plays a key role in ensuring water conservation for farmers across the US. Through a primary collection data approach, the research presents the need for farmers becoming active participants in protecting water sources and sparingly using the resource for farming purposes. The research conducted through a semi-structured in-depth interview with 15 farmers in four watersheds in the US Midwest aimed at establishing farmer’s perceptions towards environmental conservation when given alternative measures to pursue the agenda.

From this knowledge gap, Ranjan et al.’s (2020) research successfully uncovered various factors that fall behind farmers’ initiatives to constantly conserve water for agricultural purposes. Such elements among farmers across the US include perceptions that conservation process had benefits and autonomy in the targeting process. Therefore, the findings present the ideation that watershed protection is a farmers’ collective perception directed towards field-scale validation of natural resource concerns in agriculture. Finally, the researchers recommend a comprehensive approach towards water resource protection and mindful usage comprising of engaging farmers one-on-one to motivate conservation behavior and the scope and amount of information presented to farmers on the subject.

Fan and McCann (2020)

The multivariable research by Fan and McCann (2020) projects the increasing concern of water scarcity and the essence of farmer involvement in water conservation and irrigation technologies across the United States. In this research, a national 2013 Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey was utilized as the research tool to collect data on irrigation decisions made in the face of water conservation. The multilevel modeling approach reveals that water and irrigation decisions consist of a two-tier hierarchy. First, government and state officials define the approaches taken to counter pressure irrigation adoption schemes for agriculture due to the network required for the plans to work. Secondly, scientific plans for various irrigation practices are linked to farm-level features, including the real farmers who must be placed at the center of the discussion towards sustainability in agriculture.

Further, Fan and McCann’s (2020) findings from the survey agree that the changes that ought to be accounted for in agriculture regarding water usage and conservation should emanate from farmers’ input. Such characteristics that define water conservation options are acreage, information sources other than neighbors, groundwater use, and recent higher temperatures on a given area. As a result, farmers should participate in the scientific changes regarding water conservation, especially in approaches that interfere with on-farm surface water, irrigation management, and timeframes that guide water conservatory efforts.

Ranjan et al. (2019)

The systemic review by Ranjan et al. (2019) accounts for the background information concerning the adoption of conservation practices and programs (CPPs) across the US since 2011. Throughout the review, the authors illustrate the main elements that determine water conservation efforts in farmlands. Essentially, the purpose and consistency in protecting water resources across the US revolve around trust in information sources, farmer characteristics, and environmental awareness. The findings from the Ranjan et al. (2019) systemic review point out that farmers directly and indirectly influence the adoption of water conservation and protection of natural sources of water practices across the US. Therefore, the authors major concept is a collaborative network between farmers and local administrators in water conservation efforts as part of fulfilling the knowledge gap in the subject. For instance, Ranjan et al. (2019) illustrate that economic factors, perceptions of government programs, social norms, and farm characteristics ought to define water conservation efforts in the agriculture sector. As a recommendation, the researchers propose coagulation of systems-based water conservation strategies that centralize on farmers’ economic and management needs and their perception towards protection of water sources and agricultural sustainability practices.

Cumulatively, the four research works are influential studies in this review regarding the inclusion of farmers in water conservation efforts. From the research works by Ranjan et al. (2020) and Ranjan et al. (2019), the contribution to this theme involves emphasis on involving farmers as a significant move for water conservation in irrigation. However, the two studies fail to elaborate a pragmatic approach to include farmers in the agenda towards agricultural sustainability. On the other hand, Fan and McCann (2020) and Adusumilli and Wang (2018) advocate for farmer engagement in conservation programs through mitigation of on-farm surface water, irrigation management, and setting timeframes in line with their farming schedules. Overall, this review elaborates water conservation, however, it contains the limitations of excluding farming practices outside the US geographical zone. Similarly, this review failed to inculcate sources with specific variables regarding water conservation for farmers, including construction of waterways in farms, advanced water protection technologies, such as soil moisture sensors, and finally, sustainable water recycling methods in farms.

Conclusion

Overall, farmer engagement proves to be beneficial in the fight against water misuse and destruction of natural sources. However, the specific propositions in water conservation across the United States present a gap in farmer engagement techniques. From the knowledge gap, the review integrated the four studies to highlight appropriate involvement of farmers in the water conservation agenda rather than the state-level mode of setting out irrigation practices in the agricultural sector. Out of the review, the researchers recommend a more practical approach in engaging farmers in water conservation through determining farmland practices rather than becoming passive players in the agendas. Although economic factors, perceptions of government programs, and social norms are important in water conservation efforts across the US, involving real farmers in the decisions can prove to be a major development for irrigation practices in the agriculture sector. Ultimately, farmers’ contribution in water conservation is a practical rather than a passive approach since scarcity of the resource directly impacts the real agricultural decisions for United States farmers.

References

Adusumilli, & Wang, H. (2018). Analysis of soil management and water conservation practices adoption among crop and pasture farmers in humid-south of the United States. International Soil and Water Conservation Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2017.12.005

Fan, Y., & McCann, L. (2020). Adoption of pressure irrigation systems and scientific irrigation scheduling practices by US farmers: An application of multilevel models. Journal of agricultural and resource economics, 45(2), 352-375. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.302459

Ranjan, P., Church, S. P., Floress, K., & Prokopy, L. S. (2019). Synthesizing conservation motivations and barriers: what have we learned from qualitative studies of farmers’ behaviors in the United States? Society & Natural Resources, 32(11), 1171-1199. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2019.1648710

Ranjan, Singh, A. S., Tomer, M. D., Lewandowski, A. M., & Prokopy, L. S. (2020). Farmer engagement using a precision approach to watershed-scale conservation planning: What do we know? Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. https://doi.org/10113/7071196

Appendix