The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
Food production draws on water and energy at every stage: irrigation and pumping, fertiliser manufacture, machinery, processing, cooling and cooking. Agriculture also shares rivers with hydropower and power-plant cooling, and supplies bioenergy feedstocks. Heat and drought squeeze all three at once. This page sets out how the demands couple, how they are measured, and what the coupled evidence serves for those who allocate water, power and land.
The food, water and energy nexus is the dependence of food production on water and energy at every stage, from irrigation pumping and fertiliser manufacture to processing and cooling. Agriculture also shares rivers with hydropower and cooling and supplies bioenergy. Heat and drought raise all three demands at once.
The working screen behind this subject: its structure, terms and states. Names are placeholders and values illustrative.
Food, water and energy · Main season · Crop stage: grain fill
| Highland zone | 2.4 | ▲ 1 | Medium |
| Coastal plain | 2.2 | ▼ 4 | Medium |
| Region North | 0.9 | ▼ 29 | Low |
| Region South | 1.3 | ▼ 6 | Medium |
red: crop stress observed
Water and energy demand in production. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Irrigated land produces a large share of food from a small share of cropland. Pumped groundwater and lifted surface water make that output depend on electricity or diesel, and on aquifers that may be falling.
Ammonia synthesis for nitrogen fertiliser runs mainly on natural gas. Gas price spikes raise fertiliser prices, farmers apply less, and yields respond in the following season.
Free or flat-rate electricity for farm pumps removes the incentive to save water and power, deepens aquifer depletion and strains utility finances. Reform is a food, water and energy decision at once.
In a hot, dry season irrigation, cooling and power demand peak together while river flows and hydropower fall. The coupling turns one hazard into a compound one for farms, utilities and grids.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Crop water productivity | The crop output obtained per unit of water consumed, measured from fields or estimated from satellites by FAO WaPOR. |
| Water use efficiency | Value added per volume of water withdrawn in a sector over time; SDG indicator 6.4.1. |
| Rebound effect in irrigation | The tendency of more efficient irrigation to expand irrigated area or crop intensity, so total water consumption may not fall. |
| Embodied energy of fertiliser | The energy used to manufacture fertiliser, largely natural gas for nitrogen, which ties food costs to energy prices. |
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water use efficiency in agriculture (SDG 6.4.1) | value added per cubic metre withdrawn | annual | National water and economic accounts | OFFICIAL |
| Crop water productivity | kilograms per cubic metre of evapotranspiration | seasonal | Satellite evapotranspiration and biomass | MODELLED |
| Area equipped for irrigation and area actually irrigated | hectares | annual | Irrigation statistics, satellite mapping | ESTIMATED |
| Energy use in agriculture and food processing | terajoules | annual | National energy balances | OFFICIAL |
| Irrigation pumping electricity demand | gigawatt hours | seasonal | Utility feeder metering | OBSERVED |
| Fertiliser-to-crop price ratio | ratio | monthly | Commodity price series | OFFICIAL |
| Groundwater level in irrigated districts | metres below ground | monthly | Observation wells | OBSERVED |
The topic as a computational graph: named sources feed the methods, an evidence review gates the outputs, and the decisions stay with the authorities that hold them.
Fig. 02Nodes carry their type, two metric rows and a state; connectors show what feeds what; dashed frames name the owners; the timeline is the cadence. Design of the pipeline, not a record of a run.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| FAO AQUASTAT | Agricultural water withdrawal, irrigated area and water use efficiency by country | Free and open, attribution |
| FAO WaPOR | Satellite evapotranspiration, biomass and water productivity for Africa and the Near East | Free and open, attribution |
| FAOSTAT energy use and fertiliser domains | Energy consumed in agriculture and fertiliser use by country | Free and open, attribution |
| World Bank Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheet) | Monthly prices for fertilisers, energy and crops | Free and open, attribution |
| IEA World Energy Balances | Energy supply and use by sector, agriculture included | Licensed, with some free indicators |
| Global Map of Irrigation Areas (FAO and University of Bonn) | Gridded area equipped for irrigation | Free, attribution |
| National utility and water agency records | Feeder-level pumping demand and well levels | By agreement with each agency |
Food Nexus prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, water and energy ministries together | How much irrigation a basin and a grid can carry in a dry year, and who bears the shortfall | Coupled scenarios with each sector's loss stated separately |
| Electricity regulators and distribution utilities | How to reform farm power tariffs or supply schedules without cutting food output | Pumping demand by feeder, groundwater trends and crop water productivity |
| Agriculture and finance ministries setting input policy | Whether to buffer farmers against a fertiliser price spike, and how | Fertiliser-to-crop price ratios and estimated application response |
| Irrigation agencies and water user associations | Which schemes to modernise and where water savings are real rather than reallocated | Basin accounts that separate consumption from return flows |
Shortages in water or energy rarely stay in one sector. When a reservoir runs low or fuel prices rise, irrigation, processing, transport and storage are affected together, and the costs reach farmers and consumers at the same time. Experts therefore analyse the three systems jointly rather than one at a time.
The three systems are coupled through physical flows, prices and policy.
Groundwater pumping supports production in many dry regions but can deplete aquifers. Efficiency gains can raise total use if irrigated area expands. See Water Nexus.
Nitrogen fertilizer manufacture is energy-intensive, so energy shocks become fertilizer shocks. Irrigation and cold chains need reliable power. See Energy Nexus.
Subsidized electricity or water can encourage over-pumping; removing subsidies abruptly can hurt farm incomes.
Basin water balances built with hydrology and water science track supply and use. Groundwater data are often sparse.
Fuel, power and fertilizer prices and use show exposure; farm-level energy data are limited.
Linked water, energy and land models built with water and environmental engineering and optimization and operations research explore trade-offs. They are sensitive to assumptions about behaviour and policy.
Estimates crop water use over large areas, with errors that vary by method and season.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.