Balancing Agriculture, Water, and Energy: A Pathway to Sustainability

Agriculture is fundamental to global food security, accounting for approximately 72% of worldwide freshwater withdrawals. As the global population grows, so does the demand for agricultural water, creating complex interactions with regional water-energy balances. The Budyko framework—a widely used hydrological model—has revealed agriculture’s substantial influence on the water cycle, demonstrating how aridity affects the partitioning of rainfall into evapotranspiration and streamflow. Notably, agricultural practices in temperate and snowy climates significantly alter the relationship between precipitation and streamflow, necessitating adaptive water management strategies.