Facing the challenge: improving the productivity and sustainability of agricultural systems
Science and technology have provided humanity with a vast array of options to meet the demand for food, but to make up for the time lost in the last two decades when the food
Opinion Paper | 4081
by guest on October 10, 2016http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/Downloaded from
security issue was ignored, there is a need for renewed research efforts focused on actions that would have high rates of return. Here, we outline what we consider are the options with the highest probability of success to ensure food security from the standpoint of water availability. Most of these options are embedded in the philosophy that more will have to be done with less while protecting the resource base, hence the need for further simultaneous improvement of productivity and sustainability. Furthermore, while acknowledging the crucial role of socioeconomic measures such as those dealing with economic development and international food trade, the focus here is on the biophysical components of agricultural systems