Editorial: Could advances in geoinformatics, irrigation management and climate adaptive agronomic practices ensure the sustainability of water supply in agriculture?

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that up to 2050, food production will increase by about 70% above today's levels. This increase in food production could be accomplished by developing more agricultural land and transitioning from rainfed to irrigated agriculture. The development of the agricultural sector is interrelated with the effective management of water resources as irrigated agriculture is the world's largest water consumer with trends of increasing irrigation needs and pollution load in the oncoming years (Ricciardi et al. 2020). Water supply in the rural sector is expected to be most affected by climate change with reduced crop yields due to declining water availability and abandonment of climate-disadvantaged parcels. Agricultural production stability faces many challenges related to climate-water effects, with the following being of utmost importance: changes in levels and frequency of precipitation, more frequent dry spells, increased extreme weather events including flash droughts/floods, losses of agricultural lands due to water erosion, salinization of coastal cultivated areas and freshwater, as well as surface and groundwater contamination by fertilizers or other agronomically related sources of pollution. Introducing and incorporating efficient use and management practices of irrigation water to new climate-smart production methods is a vital priority for major sectoral policies, notably the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (Kourgialas, 2021).