Journal of Agricultural Economics & Development
Iranian Agricultural Economics Society (IAES)

Decision-Making in the Water-Energy-Food-Environment Nexus: Pathways to Sustainable Agricultural Development

Document Type : Research Article-en

Authors

R.A. Fakhroldin 1
A. Mirzaei 1
M. Taki 2
H. Azarm 1

1 Department of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Iran

2 Department of Agricultural Machinery and Mechanization Engineering, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/jead.2025.95571.1378
Abstract
We have strived to present a fresh definition of the water-energy-food-environment-decision makers (WEFED) nexus through the creation of a comprehensive and interconnected system. In this study, we considered criteria for consumption, mass productivity, and economic productivity related to irrigation water, renewable and non-renewable energy, as well as the criteria of fertilizer and pesticide use, CO2 emissions, and wetland conservation to elucidate the water-energy-food-environment (WEFE) nexus. We then assessed the impact of decision-makers’ perspectives on the nexus criteria under seven different management scenarios: water consumption management (WCM), energy consumption management (ECM), water economic management (WEM), energy economic management (EEM), environmental management (ENM), management with equal weight given to criteria (WEFE), and management with weight based on the opinions of decision makers in the study area (WEFED), employing TOPSIS method. To explicitly integrate decision-makers’ perspectives into this system (the WEFED approach), the weights assigned to each sustainability criterion in one scenario were determined directly based on a survey of local decision-makers using the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP) method. The study findings revealed that in the WCM, ECM, and ENM scenarios, barley cultivation held the highest priority, yet despite improvements in environmental parameters, a decrease in water and energy economic productivity was observed compared to the current pattern. Conversely, in the WEM and EEM scenarios, tomato cultivation took precedence, and despite the deterioration of environmental conditions, enhanced mass and economic water and energy productivity were demonstrated compared to the current pattern. The discrepancy in results among the various sustainable scenario patterns underscored the substantial impact of decision-makers’ perspectives on sustainable agricultural management. Finally, it was determined that the WEFE scenario returned the greatest number of improvements (11 out of 13 criteria) in sustainable management criteria compared to the current pattern. Therefore, the findings revealed that a holistic, equally-weighted nexus approach (WEFE), while increasing water consumption, delivers the most balanced sustainability outcomes, though its implementation must be coupled with robust water governance.

Keywords

CO2 emission
Sustainability perspectives
Water and energy economic management
Wetland conservation
Subjects

Authors retain the copyright. This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
  1. Abdelkader, A., & Elshorbagy, A. (2021). ACPAR: a framework for linking national water and food security management with global conditions. Advances in Water Resources, 147, 103809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2020.103809
  2. Asgharipour, M.R., Mousavinik, S.M., & Enayat, F.F. (2016). Evaluation of energy input and greenhouse gases emissions from alfalfa production in the Sistan region, Iran. Energy Reports, 2, 135–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2016.05.007
  3. Dimitrijević, A., Gavrilović, M., Ivanović, S., Mileusnić, Z., Miodragović, R., & Todorović, S. (2020). Energy use and economic analysis of fertilizer use in wheat and sugar beet production in Serbia. Energies, 13(9), 2361. https://doi.org/10.3390/en13092361
  4. Dyer, J.A., & Desjardins, R.L. (2007). Energy based GHG emissions from Canadian agriculture. Journal of the Energy Institute, 80(2), 93–95. https://doi.org/10.1179/174602207X187203
  5. El-Gafy, I. (2017). Water–food–energy nexus index: analysis of water–energy–food nexus of crop’s production system applying the indicators approach. Applied Water Science, 7(6), 2857–2868. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-017-0551-3
  6. El-Gafy, I., Grigg, N., & Waskom, R. (2017). Water-food-energy: nexus and non-nexus approaches for optimal cropping pattern. Water Resources Management, 31(15), 4971–4980. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1789-0
  7. Erdal, G., Esengün, K., Erdal, H., & Gündüz, O. (2007). Energy use and economical analysis of sugar beet production in Tokat province of Turkey. Energy, 32(1), 35–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2006.01.007
  8. Esengun, K., Erdal, G., Gündüz, O., & Erdal, H. (2007). An economic analysis and energy use in stake-tomato production in Tokat province of Turkey. Renewable Energy, 32(11), 1873–1881. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2006.07.005
  9. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). (2014). Walking the Nexus Talk: Assessing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Context of the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative. https://doi.org/10.1787/agr_outlook-2014-en
  10. Farajian, L., Moghaddasi, R., & Hosseini, S. (2018). Agricultural energy demand modeling in Iran: Approaching to a more sustainable situation. Energy Reports, 4, 260–265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2018.03.002
  11. Garg, N.K., & Dadhich, S.M. (2014). Integrated non-linear model for optimal cropping pattern and irrigation scheduling under deficit irrigation. Agricultural Water Management, 140, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2014.03.008
  12. Hu, M.C., Fan, C., Huang, T., Wang, C.F., & Chen, Y.H. (2019). Urban metabolic analysis of a food-water-energy system for sustainable resources management. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(1), 90. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16010090
  13. Hua, F., Yangyang, L., Cong, F., Peishu, H., & Kaiyong, W. (2016). Energy-use efficiency and economic analysis of sugar beet production in China: a case study in Xinjiang province. Sugar Tech, 18(3), 309–316. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-015-0405-y
  14. Hülsbergen, K.J., Feil, B., Biermann, S., Rathke, G.W., Kalk, W.D., & Diepenbrock, W. (2001). A method of energy balancing in crop production and its application in a long-term fertilizer trial. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 86(3), 303–321. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8809(00)00286-3
  15. International Energy Agency (IEA). (2021). Key world energy statistics 2021. Head of Communication and Information Office.
  16. Iran Food and Drug Administration. (2016). https://www.fda.gov.ir/en
  17. Jagadeesh, G.S., & Sampath, P.V. (2022). A data-intensive approach for evaluating water-energy-land-food nexus at multiple scales. Authorea Preprints. https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10503865.1
  18. Jalilov, S.M., Amer, S.A., & Ward, F.A. (2018). Managing the water-energy-food nexus: Opportunities in Central Asia. Journal of Hydrology, 557, 407–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.12.040
  19. Jalilov, S.M., Keskinen, M., Varis, O., Amer, S., & Ward, F.A. (2016). Managing the water–energy–food nexus: Gains and losses from new water development in Amu Darya River Basin. Journal of Hydrology, 539, 648–661. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.05.071
  20. Ji, L., Zheng, Z., Wu, T., Xie, Y., Liu, Z., Huang, G., & Niu, D. (2020). Synergetic optimization management of crop-biomass coproduction with food-energy-water nexus under uncertainties. Journal of Cleaner Production, 258, 120645. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120645
  21. Kaab, A., Sharifi, M., Mobli, H., Nabavi-Pelesaraei, A., & Chau, K.W. (2019). Combined life cycle assessment and artificial intelligence for prediction of output energy and environmental impacts of sugarcane production. Science of the Total Environment, 664, 1005–1019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.004
  22. Karamian, F., Mirakzadeh, A.A., & Azari, A. (2021). The water-energy-food nexus in farming: Managerial insights for a more efficient consumption of agricultural inputs. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 27, 1357–1371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2021.03.008
  23. Karamian, F., Mirakzadeh, A.A., & Azari, A. (2023). Application of multi-objective genetic algorithm for optimal combination of resources to achieve sustainable agriculture based on the water-energy-food nexus framework. Science of The Total Environment, 860, 160419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160419
  24. Keshavarz, A., Malakian, R., Nezhadali, A., & Bigi, A. (2021). Explaining the country's water situation, a collection of documents related to the national and strategic document of food security transformation. Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Deputy of Agricultural Education and Extension, Agricultural Education Publishing. https://doi.org/10.52547/jcb.13.38.179
  25. Khanali, M., Akram, A., Behzadi, J., Mostashari-Rad, F., Saber, Z., Chau, K.W., & Nabavi-Pelesaraei, A. (2021). Multi-objective optimization of energy use and environmental emissions for walnut production using imperialist competitive algorithm. Applied Energy, 284, 116342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.116342
  26. Khoshnevisan, B., Rafiee, S., & Mousazadeh, H. (2013). Environmental impact assessment of open field and greenhouse strawberry production. European Journal of Agronomy, 50, 29–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2013.05.003
  27. Khoshnevisan, B., Shariati, H.M., Rafiee, S., & Mousazadeh, H. (2014). Comparison of energy consumption and GHG emissions of open field and greenhouse strawberry production. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 29, 316–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.08.098
  28. Kitani, O. (1999). Energy and biomass engineering. In CIGR handbook of agricultural engineering(Vol. 5). ASAE.
  29. Lal, R. (2004). Carbon emission from farm operations. Environment International, 30(7), 981–990. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2004.03.005
  30. Leck, H., Conway, D., Bradshaw, M., & Rees, J. (2015). Tracing the water-energy food nexus: description, theory and practice. Geography Compass, 9(8), 445–460. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12222
  31. Li, M., Fu, Q., Singh, V.P., Ji, Y., Liu, D., Zhang, C., & Li, T. (2019). An optimal modelling approach for managing agricultural water-energy-food nexus under uncertainty. Science of the Total Environment, 651, 1416–1434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.291
  32. Li, T., Baležentis, T., Makutėnienė, D., Streimikiene, D., & Kriščiukaitienė, I. (2016). Energy-related CO2 emission in European Union agriculture: Driving forces and possibilities for reduction. Applied Energy, 180, 682–694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.08.031
  33. Madani, K., AghaKouchak, A., & Mirchi, A. (2016). Iran’s socio-economic drought: challenges of a water-bankrupt nation. Iranian Studies, 49(6), 997–1016. https://doi.org/10.1080/00210862.2016.1259286
  34. Mahdavian, S.M., Ahmadpour Borazjani, M., Mohammadi, H., Asgharipour, M.R., & Najafi Alamdarlo, H. (2022). Assessment of food-energy-environmental pollution nexus in Iran: the nonlinear approach. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(35), 52457-52472. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19280-1
  35. Martinez-Hernandez, E., Leach, M., & Yang, A. (2017). Understanding water-energy-food and ecosystem interactions using the nexus simulation tool NexSym. Applied Energy, 206, 1009–1021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.09.022
  36. Masaeli, H., Gohari, A., Hasanzadeh Saray, M., & Torabi Haghighi, A. (2023). Developing a new water–energy–food‐greenhouse gases nexus tool for sustainable agricultural landscape management. Sustainable Development, 31(2), 877–892. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2427
  37. Mirzaei, A., Abdeshahi, A., Azarm, H., & Naghavi, S. (2022). New design of water-energy-food-environment nexus for sustainable agricultural management. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 36(7), 1861–1874. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-021-02131-9
  38. Mirzaei, A., Ashktorab, N., & Noshad, M. (2023). Evaluation of the policy options to adopt a water-energy-food nexus pattern by farmers: Application of optimization and agent-based models. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 11, 1139565. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1139565
  39. Mirzaei, A., Azarm, H., & Noshad, M. (2024a). Designing sustainability comprehensive indicator for the food supply chain under climate change: A systematic literature review. Ecological Indicators, 159, 111722. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.111722
  40. Mirzaei, A., Naserin, A., & Najafabadi, M.M. (2024b). Optimizing water-energy-food nexus index, CO2 emissions, and chemical pollutants under irrigation water salinity scenarios. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, 23, 100461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indic.2024.100461
  41. Mirzaei, A., & Zibaei, M. (2021). Water conflict management between agriculture and wetland under climate change: Application of Economic-Hydrological-Behavioral Modelling. Water Resources Management, 35(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-020-02703-4
  42. Mohammad Jani, I., & Yazdanian, N. (2014). The analysis of water crisis conjecture in Iran and the exigent measures for its management. Trend (Trend of Economic Research), 21(65-66), 117-144. https://doi.org/10.22059/ije.2020.286464.1176
  43. Nahidul Karim, M., & Daher, B. (2021). Evaluating the potential of a water-energy-food nexus approach toward the sustainable development of Bangladesh. Water, 13(3), 366. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13030366
  44. National Climate Change Office. (2010). Iran second national communication to UNFCCC. https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/iranc2.pdf
  45. Nhamo, L., Mabhaudhi, T., Mpandeli, S., Dickens, C., Nhemachena, C., Senzanje, A., Modi, A.T. (2020). An integrative analytical model for the water-energy-food nexus: South Africa case study. Environmental Science & Policy, 109, 15–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.04.010
  46. Ozkan, B., Akcaoz, H., & Fert, C. (2004). Energy input–output analysis in Turkish Renewable Energy, 29(1), 39–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-1481(03)00135-6
  47. Pastor, A.V., Palazzo, A., Havlik, P., Biemans, H., Wada, Y., Obersteiner, M., Kabat, P., & Ludwig, F. (2019). The global nexus of food–trade–water sustaining environmental flows by 2050. Nature Sustainability, 2(6), 499–507. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0287-1
  48. Pishgar-Komleh, S.H., Ghahderijani, M., & Sefeedpari, P. (2012). Energy consumption and CO2 emissions analysis of potato production based on different farm size levels in Iran. Journal of Cleaner Production, 33, 183–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.04.008
  49. Radmehr, R., Ghorbani, M., & Ziaei, A.N. (2021). Quantifying and managing the water-energy-food nexus in dry regions food insecurity: new methods and evidence. Agricultural Water Management, 245, 106588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106588
  50. Rajaeifar, M.A., Akram, A., Ghobadian, B., Rafiee, S., & Heidari, M.D. (2014). Energy-economic life cycle assessment (LCA) and greenhouse gas emissions analysis of olive oil production in Iran. Energy, 66, 139–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2013.12.059
  51. Sadeghi, S.H., Moghadam, E.S., Delavar, M., & Zarghami, M. (2020). Application of water-energy-food nexus approach for designating optimal agricultural management pattern at a watershed scale. Agricultural Water Management, 233, 106071. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106071
  52. Sahabi, H., Feizi, H., & Amirmoradi, S. (2013). Which crop production system is more efficient in energy use: wheat or barley?. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 15(3), 711–721. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-012-9402-4
  53. Salam, A.P., Shrestha, S., Pandey, V.P., & Anal, A.K. (2017). Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Principles and Practices. American Geophysical Union. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119243175
  54. Saray, M.H., Baubekova, A., Gohari, A., Eslamian, S.S., Klove, B., & Haghighi, A.T. (2022). Optimization of Water-Energy-Food Nexus considering CO2 emissions from cropland: A case study in northwest Iran. Applied Energy, 307, 118236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118236
  55. Saray, M.H., & Haghighi, A.T. (2023). Energy analysis in Water-Energy-Food-Carbon Nexus. Energy Nexus, 11, 100223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nexus.2023.100223
  56. Sarbijan, S.R., Mehrjerdi, M.R.Z., Mirzaei, A., Boshrabadi, HM., & Khalilabad, H.R.M. (2025). Evaluation of water resource management policies for achieving sustainable agricultural development using the distance-to-optimal solution index: Application of the WEFE Nexus and NSGA-II method. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, 10, 100310.‏ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsust.2025.100310
  57. Si, Y., Li, X., Yin, D., Li, T., Cai, X., Wei, J., & Wang, G. (2019). Revealing the water-energy-food nexus in the Upper Yellow River Basin through multi-objective optimization for reservoir system. Science of the Total Environment, 682, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.427
  58. Soltani, A., Rajabi, M.H., Zeinali, E., & Soltani, E. (2013). Energy inputs and greenhouse gases emissions in wheat production in Gorgan, Iran. Energy, 50, 54–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2012.12.022
  59. Stamou, A.T., & Rutschmann, P. (2018). Pareto optimization of water resources using the nexus approach. Water Resources Management, 32(15), 5053–5065. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-018-2127-x
  60. Sun, J., Li, Y.P., Suo, C., & Liu, J. (2020). Development of an uncertain water-food-energy nexus model for pursuing sustainable agricultural and electric productions. Agricultural Water Management, 241, 106384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106384
  61. Tabatabaie, S.M.H., Rafiee, S., Keyhani, A., & Ebrahimi, A. (2013). Energy and economic assessment of prune production in Tehran province of Iran. Journal of Cleaner Production, 39, 280–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.07.052
  62. Taguta, C., Senzanje, A., Kiala, Z., Malota, M., & Mabhaudhi, T. (2022). Water-energy-food nexus tools in theory and practice: a systematic review. Frontiers in Water, 4, 837316. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2022.837316
  63. Tuti, M.D., Prakash, V., Pandey, B.M., Bhattacharyya, R., Mahanta, D., Bisht, J.K., Srivastva, A.K. (2012). Energy budgeting of colocasia-based cropping systems in the Indian sub-Himalayas. Energy, 45(1), 986–993. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2012.06.056
  64. (2023). The Sustainable development goals report 2023. Special edition: towards a rescue plan for people and plan. https://doi.org/10.18356/9789210024914c023
  65. World Resources Institute. (2015). CAIT Climate Data Explorer. http://cait.wri.org/
  66. Wu, L., Elshorbagy, A., Pande, S., & Zhuo, L. (2021). Trade-offs and synergies in the water-energy-food nexus: The case of Saskatchewan, Canada. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 164, 105192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105192
  67. Yu, L., Xiao, Y., Zeng, X.T., Li, Y.P., & Fan, Y.R. (2020). Planning water-energy-food nexus system management under multi-level and uncertainty. Journal of Cleaner Production, 251, 119658. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119658
  68. Zad-Parsa, S., Sepaskhah, D., & Shahr, S. (2024). Gradual reduction of agricultural water consumption: An effective step in adapting to water scarcity in Iran. Journal of Strategic Research in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, 9(1), 19–34. https://doi.org/10.22047/srjasnr.2024.403085.1073
  69. Zahedi, M., Mondani, F., & Eshghizadeh, H.R. (2015). Analyzing the energy balances of double-cropped cereals in an arid region. Energy Reports, 1, 43–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2014.11.001
  70. Zhang, D.M., & Guo, P. (2016). Integrated agriculture water management optimization model for water saving potential analysis. Agricultural Water Management, 170, 5–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.11.004
  71. Zhang, J., Campana, P.E., Yao, T., Zhang, Y., Lundblad, A., Melton, F., & Yan, J. (2018). The water-food-energy nexus optimization approach to combat agricultural drought: a case study in the United States. Applied Energy, 227, 449–464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.07.036
  72. Zhou, Y., Chang, L.-C., Uen, T.-S., Guo, S., Xu, C.-Y., & Chang, F.-J. (2019). Prospect for small-hydropower installation settled upon optimal water allocation: An action to stimulate synergies of water-food-energy nexus. Applied Energy, 238, 668–682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.01.069
  73. Zolghadr-Asli, B., McIntyre, N., Djordjevic, S., Farmani, R., & Pagliero, L. (2023). The sustainability of desalination as a remedy to the water crisis in the agriculture sector: An analysis from the climate-water-energy-food nexus perspective. Agricultural Water Management, 286, 108407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108407
  74. Zuo, Q., Wu, Q., Yu, L., Li, Y., & Fan, Y. (2021). Optimization of uncertain agricultural management considering the framework of water, energy and food. Agricultural Water Management, 253, 106907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2021.106907
Send comment about this article
Enter Name.
Enter a valid email address.
Enter a vaid affiliation.
Enter comments (At leaset 10 words)
CAPTCHA Image
Enter Security Code Correctly.

  • Receive Date 21 September 2025
  • Revise Date 28 November 2025
  • Accept Date 27 December 2025
  • First Publish Date 27 December 2025

Home

Editorial Board

Publication Ethics

Contact Us