SE CASC Science Seminar – Using Deficit Irrigation to Reduce Vulnerability in Food-Energy-Water Nexus

Seminar Title: Using Deficit Irrigation to Reduce Vulnerability in Food-Energy-Water Nexus

Speaker: Hemant Kumar (NC State University)

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Overview
Understanding the nexus between food, energy, and water systems (FEW) is critical for basins with intensive agricultural water use as they face significant challenges under changing climate and regional development. We investigate the food, energy, and water nexus through a regional hydroeconomic optimization (RHEO) modeling framework. RHEO facilitates mixed irrigation—rainfed, fully irrigated and deficit irrigation—strategies. This work looks at application of RHEO to groundwater-dominated basin, South Flint River Basin, Georgia, for developing mixed irrigation strategies over 31 years. Our analyses show that optimal deficit irrigation is economically better than full irrigation, which increases the groundwater pumping cost. Thus, considering deficit irrigation in a groundwater-dominated basin reduces the water, carbon, and energy footprints, thereby reducing FEW vulnerability. Learn more about this research.