By Abbas Nazil
With water scarcity threatening agricultural productivity and critical ecosystems, researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) have highlighted six major strategies to promote sustainable water use in U.S. agriculture.
In a newly published review in Nature Water, titled: “Advancing sustainable water use across the agricultural life cycle in the USA,” the team provides a systems-based framework aimed at mitigating water challenges in food production—particularly in water-stressed regions like the Western United States.
The review, led by Thomas Borch, professor in CSU’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and Department of Chemistry, emphasizes that no single solution can resolve the crisis.
Instead, the authors argue for a comprehensive, multi-pronged strategy to reduce agricultural water consumption, which currently accounts for about 80 percent of the nation’s water use.
The six strategies identified include optimizing crop placement according to regional climates, adopting forward-thinking soil management, increasing the use of efficient irrigation technologies, promoting water treatment and reuse, reducing water demands in animal agriculture, and minimizing food loss and waste.
Each strategy, the researchers caution, comes with its own set of challenges and trade-offs.
Optimizing crop location, for instance, could yield significant water savings by aligning crops with climates best suited for their growth.
However, the transition requires large financial investments and farmers must navigate market-related risks when switching to unfamiliar or less profitable crops.
Similarly, the use of treated wastewater for irrigation—successfully practiced in Florida, California, and Texas—is promising, yet public concerns and inconsistent regulatory frameworks hinder its broader adoption.
The review also draws attention to the water burden of animal agriculture and food waste.
Animal feed crops require substantial water, and altering livestock feed to include less water-intensive crops could reduce demand.
Moreover, researchers found that uneaten food in the U.S. represents about 22 percent of total water use—highlighting how reducing waste could conserve massive amounts of water.
Lead author Huma Tariq Malik, a doctoral student in Borch’s lab, stressed that focusing on isolated measures like irrigation efficiency without examining systemic interconnections can lead to misleading conclusions.
“We wanted to pull together a range of approaches, look at how they interact and see where the real opportunities lie,” she said.
Policy support remains central to implementing these strategies.
The researchers argue that sustainable water management depends on effective local, state, and national policies that incentivize adoption.
“Our paper shows that each of us can play a role,” said Borch, urging stakeholders to back climate-suitable crops, precision farming, reduced food waste, and mindful consumption as ways to protect limited water resources.