ABSTRACT
The consumption of energy and water are essential for life and form the foundation of agricultural production processes. Concerns over climate change and energy security also drive the need to use these resources more efficiently. The use of these resources and their impact on the environment are interwoven in a complex system, of which both the energy and water components are facing a number of challenges. Long term depletion of natural resources such as coal, oil and natural gas, the issue of global warming and competing demands for water (Graham et al., 2003) indicate the need to consider water and energy factors conjunctively. Energy use of some form is necessary for increasing agricultural productivity and improving food security (Sayin et al., 2005); indeed, intensification of fossil energy use has been associated with an increase in agricultural productivity during recent decades (Conforti and Giampetrio, 1997). Given the global challenge of increasing agricultural productivity to achieve food security, it is likely that the trend of intensifying energy use in agriculture will continue in decades to come. The assessment of water and energy consumption in agricultural production is imperative to identify the sources of waste, and to determine strategies for best allocating scarce resources to enhance crop production.
