Blockchain-Enabled Water Management and Crop Optimization in Arid Regions: A Sustainable Path to Food and Energy Security – The Australian Case

Abstract This study examines the short-run effects of blockchain-enabled irrigation management in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), one of Australia’s most water-stressed agricultural regions. Although interest in digital water technologies has accelerated, empirical evidence on their real-world effectiveness remains scarce, leaving a substantial gap in the literature. To help address this gap, we implement a simulation-assisted difference-in-differences (DID) framework that integrates annual agricultural data (2014–2023) with a counterfactual control series generated from pre-intervention dynamics. Within this framework, the adoption of blockchain-enabled irrigation in 2019 is treated as a hypothetical intervention year created through simulation rather than an observed policy change. The results reveal a significant post-2019 decline in agricultural water use alongside a measurable increase in energy consumption attributable to blockchain-assisted monitoring. No statistically significant short-term effect is detected for crop yield, suggesting that productivity responses may require longer behavioural or agronomic adjustment periods that are not fully captured by annual observations. Overall, the findings underscore both the efficiency gains and the energy trade-offs associated with blockchain-supported irrigation systems. This study offers one of the earliest empirical assessments of blockchain applications in agricultural water management and provides policy-relevant insights for arid and semi-arid regions seeking to modernize irrigation governance.