Agricultural production needs water and is increasingly concerned by risks directly or indirectly linked to water.
It is also the largest water-consuming sector of activity and one of the most impactful for this resource. Improving water management in agriculture is therefore essential for the sustainability of a productive agri-food sector.
Agriculture faces increased water-related risks in the future. In recent years, agricultural regions around the world have been subject to increasing water stress, partly due to global warming. In addition to these changes, the expansion of the urban population and the growing demand for water from the energy and industrial sectors are creating tensions over the accessibility of this resource.
Finally, water quality is deteriorating in many regions due not only to the increase in polluting activities, but also to salinization induced by rising sea levels and the changes in water availability already mentioned.
Issues of the agricultural sector
Protection of the water resource
Because of its increasing scarcity and pollution, water is at the heart of conflicts of use. Preserving this resource is at the heart of the agricultural world's challenges.
Although it suffers from these changes, agriculture itself contributes to them since it consumes a lot of water and has an impact on its quality. This is why it has a central role to play in the face of these challenges.
Although already subject to compliance with standards, the agricultural world is increasingly committed to reducing its environmental footprint on water resources. Some have already undertaken to go beyond the current regulations by conducting more thorough analyses of their water quality.
Quality production
Water is a basic need for both crops and animals. Whether it is to irrigate crops or to water livestock, the availability of water and its quality are key elements for this sector of activity. Thus, the agricultural world needs to be assured of the quality of its process water in order to ensure a quality production meeting the specifications of increasingly demanding customers.
Reputation
The question of reputation is becoming more and more central for these economic actors. The food industries, customers of these breeders and farmers, are subject to strong pressure from their customers and pass it on to their suppliers.
In a price war and in a highly competitive sector, differentiating factors are competitive advantages for these players. Eco-responsible, eco-citizen, organic, natural and Green Tech approaches are trendy and respond to current societal issues.
This is why approaches committed to environmental health make sense: choosing to reassure consumers and reduce their environmental impact or ecological footprint is becoming a priority.
Optimization of the overall cost
For many players, water represents an important raw material in their production. Controlling this resource is a key strategic issue to improve their competitiveness. The projects of reserve, of catchment falling under this logic require in-depth analyses of water in order to evaluate its quality and to validate its adequacy with the uses.
Tame-Water's contribution
Tame-Water has developed an innovative approach based on bioassays. These analyses consist of evaluating the potential impacts of chemical toxins in a given water sample on bacteria, algae, fungi, yeast and human cells.
With its range of analyzers and analytical services performed in laboratories, Tame-Water is able to assess chronic or acute toxicity related to families of pollutants and micropollutants:
- heavy metals,
- pesticides,
- hydrocarbons,
- endocrine disruptors,
- drug residues,
- microplastics,
- cocktail effects.
Tame-Water is therefore able to provide a relevant complementary analysis for farms wishing to establish an ecotoxic diagnosis of their water in order to monitor it, to implement preventive actions and to evaluate their effectiveness.
The agricultural world is thus in a position to better control the quality of its water, to anticipate regulatory changes and to enhance its environmental initiatives.
