The water – energy – food – ecosystems nexus in on-farm irrigation management

Over the 20th century, many human interventions in the water cycle have had severe, often unexpected negative effects on energy, food and ecosystems. The development of the Water, Energy and Food (WEF) Nexus concept in 2011 illustrated the interdependencies between the first factors (trade-offs and synergies) and led to an intense scientific dialogue. The framework has recently been extended to include additional terms, like “Land” and/or “Climate”, but the most ambitious extension has been “Ecosystems”, leading to the WEFE Nexus. Irrigation managers and policy makers are facing the challenge of contributing to food security while protecting water bodies in quantitative and qualitative terms, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring economic profitability. Consequently, they are urging farmers and their associations to adopt the Nexus approach, reducing water abstraction, energy uptake and water pollution while continuing to produce local food for society in a period of uncertainty in international markets. Can the WEFE Nexus be applied to identify adequate on-farm management decisions? Will the Nexus find routine application in irrigation management?