Evaluation of Agricultural Water Footprints under the Scenarios of Climate Change and Conservation Practices: A Case Study in Central Nebraska
Abstract
Climate change is one of the most significant challenges to crop production in agricultural regions around the world. Future projections suggest that increasing climate variability and change, such as long periods of drought and a shift of seasonal precipitation patterns, is likely to occur in the next decades. Thus, it is critical to make water resources management and agricultural production compatible with climate change challenges. Conservation practices have shown many soil and water conservation benefits, such as improving soil water retention and reducing runoff and erosion. Despite a plethora of research on the conservation benefits of cover crops, it is unclear whether a regional installation of cover crops is a viable option to counteract the negative impacts of climate change on water resources. This study was conducted in a semiarid agricultural region in Central Nebraska to evaluate the long-term effects of cover crops on soil water dynamics and balance. Based on a predeveloped Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), a combination of cover crop practices and climate change scenarios were examined using a model-based water footprint assessment. The preliminary results show that the installation of a winter cereal rye crop would have a significant impact on water balance components. Blue water is expected to decrease by more than 20% while evapotranspiration to increase by 4% before incorporating the climate change scenarios. Higher proportions of green water were used under the cover crop scenario especially in dry years indicating that precipitation is more likely to be absorbed by soil and utilized by the plants rather than blue water flow or storage. The findings will help determine whether conservation schemes and policies will help address climate change impacts on water resources for sustaining crop production.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFM.H43B..04N