Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States (2008) / Chapter Skim
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2 Crop Water Availability and Use
2 Crop Water Availability and Use
Pages 19-26
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From page 19... ...
Biofuels expansion beyond current irrigated agriculture, especially in dry western areas, has the potential to greatly increase pressure on water resources in some areas. The water resource is already stressed in many agricultural areas.
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From page 20... ...
The reverse is true in the Northern and Southern Plains, and the crops use about the same amount of water in the North Central and Eastern regions. Changes in agricultural water use would generally parallel these trends.
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From page 21... ...
Figure 2-2 shows the state-by-state water requirement of irrigated corn in the continental United States. It demonstrates that the amount of rainfall and other hydroclimate conditions in a given area causes significant (10-fold)
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From page 22... ...
It seems likely that biofuels will push into a number of other regions, including regions that currently support little agriculture. Biofuels expansion beyond current irrigated agriculture, or even current agriculture in general, especially into dry western areas, has the potential to dramatically affect water use in such areas.
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From page 23... ...
However, there are fundamental knowledge gaps that preclude making reliable assessments of the water impacts of these future crops. While a large body of information exists for water requirements and ET of the nation's traditional crops grown in their traditional regions, this is not true for non-native species that may be planted in new areas.
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From page 24... ...
HOW MIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECT THIS PICTURE? Climate change predictions tend to indicate possible wetter and warmer conditions across the major agricultural regions of the continental United States.
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From page 25... ...
, National Agricultural Statistics Service.
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From page 26... ...
Courtesy of the Natural Resources Conservation Service Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture
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