WEX Global 2023: Focus on Water and Agriculture
Discussing and providing solutions for the current global crisis and reassessment of food production practice
Spanish Water Investment in the News
Water is integral to the growth of food. In Spain, 80% of water is used on agriculture, while more than 40% of vegetables exported to Europe are sourced from the Spanish Levante (Alicante, Almería and Murcia). Yet the groundwater is depleted, and desalination is scaling up in an effort to bridge the gap.
Spain is currently grappling with this challenge, and quotas have just been placed on the Tagus river which limit the amount of water farmers can take out. While these moves may sound draconian, until now the Tagus has been the only river in Spain without an official “ecological threshold” using environmental criteria to establish the minimum flow needed to ensure its ecological health. The government is investing €8 billion to compensate farmers by encouraging water recycling and increasing desalination production, all of which provides funds and projects for the ever-expanding water sector.
This situation in Spain is indicative of similar challenges in many other parts of the world where agriculture and food production are always the main consumer of water. Limits have already been reached or breached in several river basins globally, which are now ‘closed’ due to human over-exploitation leaving just an inadequate trickle for the ecosystem. The list of closed basins includes significant breadbaskets around the Colorado River in the United States, the Indus River in southern Asia, the Yellow River in China, the Jordan River in the Middle East, and the Murray Darling River in Australia.
WEX Global Solutions: AGRICULTURE
WEX Global is hosting a key session:
‘Why is it so important to optimise water use in agricultural production systems?’
sponsored by Acciona
The agriculture sector is looking for innovative water solutions. Monitoring, logging, optimising, efficient, cost-effective desalination, and water reuse will all be of the utmost importance, in order to protect both our rivers and our food production. Come to WEX Global in Seville to discuss these key challenges with the industry leaders in the heart of Europe’s fresh veg production region.
In most regions of the world, over 70 percent of freshwater is used for agriculture. The session will cover the following themes:
- Efficient use of water in agriculture in Spain
- Desalination plants as a complement to the traditional water resources
- What is the role of digitalization and other advanced technologies in mitigating the effects of water scarcity on agriculture?
- How important is it for stakeholders from the public and private sectors to come together to design and implement solutions?
- Case Studies:
- i) Torrevieja (Alicante)
- ii) La Axarquia (Malaga)
Key panellists discussing this important topic include: Manuel Navarro Agullo, Director Ciclo del Agua (ACCIONA); Ramiro Angulo Sanchez, Secretary General for Water (Junta de Andalucia); Jorge Francisco Forné Moreno, Technical Director & Secretary General, COREHU (Asociación de comunidades de regantes de Huelva), Fernando Delgado Ramos, Professor of Water Engineering (Universtiy of Granada); Javier Borso di C. Guerra, (Ingeniero Agrónomo, Explotación Agraria)
