Green innovation to save water and energy for environmental sustainability in agricultural farming: A review

Abstract

Importance of the work: As the world’s population is growing at a fast rate, it is important to increase agricultural productivity by applying efficient crop management to feed the increasing population. Objectives: To review: 1) the interdependencies among water, energy and agricultural farming; 2) green innovation in irrigation for agricultural farming, including sprinkler and drip irrigation, wastewater ferti-irrigation, precision agriculture with the internet of things (IoT) and wireless sensor networks (WSNs); and 3) solar energy for irrigation based on innovative solutions to save energy in agricultural farming for environmental sustainability. Materials & Methods: A state-of-the-art literature review methodology was applied across various available sources, on the application of green innovation in agricultural farming to increase crop productivity with efficient use of water and energy. Results: Some water, energy and fertilizer-saving green innovations include drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, ferti-irrigation and precision agriculture with the IoT and WSNs. The review provides insights, which may be beneficial to farmers and practitioners who need to adopt green innovation to improve agricultural sustainability by bringing efficiencies in irrigation, crop productivity and environmental sustainability. Main findings: The challenges of water-energy-agricultural farming could be solved by adopting green innovation in agricultural water and energy management, thus leading to saving scarce water resources and fertilizers and reducing environmental problems.