Grape growers in Mediterranean regions can beat water scarcity with smarter irrigation.
Table grape production in Mediterranean regions faces water shortage due to climate change. A study in Chile compared different irrigation methods and climate change scenarios. Improved irrigation increased water use efficiency by 6.2%. In the future, supplying 80% or 50% of crop water needs showed better efficiency than standard irrigation. This means that by mid-century, managing irrigation is more important than climate change for table grape production in central Chile.