Editing Irrigation (section)

=== Competition for water resources ===
{{Main|Water scarcity}}
Until the 1960s, there were fewer than half the number of people on the planet as of 2024. People were not as wealthy as today, consumed fewer calories and [[meat consumption|ate less meat]], so less water was needed to produce their food. They required a third of the volume of water humans presently take from rivers. Today, the competition for [[water resources]] is much more intense, because there are now [[population growth|more than seven billion people]] on the planet, increasing the likelihood of [[overconsumption]] of food produced by water-thirsty animal agriculture and [[intensive farming]] practices. This creates increasing competition for water from [[Industrial sector|industry]], [[urbanisation]] and [[biofuel crops]]. Farmers will have to strive to increase productivity to meet growing [[food security|demands for food]], while industry and cities find ways to use water more efficiently.<ref>Chartres, C. and Varma, S. ''Out of water. From Abundance to Scarcity and How to Solve the World's Water Problems'' FT Press (USA), 2010</ref>

Successful agriculture is dependent upon farmers having sufficient access to water. However, [[water scarcity]] is already a critical constraint to farming in many parts of the world.