Anticipating for better planning: what water demand for what agriculture tomorrow? Editorial

Abstract

Bringing together the professional water and agriculture communities, the “Anticipating for better planning: what water demand for what type of agriculture in the future?” symposium provided an opportunity to take stock of the methods that can be mobilized and the actions undertaken to improve anticipation of agricultural water demand to 2050, while raising crucial questions: what basic data is water resource management based on? How reliable are these data, and what do they tell us about the current and future situation and tensions? This event was organized on September 28, 2023 by the Chaire partenariale Eau, Agriculture et Changement Climatique, the INRAE “Systèmes agricoles et Eau” network and the Aqua-Valley cluster. Adapting to climate change and promoting sustainable agricultural practices that minimize the need for irrigation water were at the heart of the discussions, and form the focus of this special issue.