Bernhardt et al. (2026) AIDspat: Introduction of a model framework to estimate spatio-temporal agricultural irrigation demands – A study area in Germany

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural Water Management
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-08
• Authors: Jacob Jeff Bernhardt, Frank Potts, Jan Bug, Maximilian Zinnbauer, Max Eysholdt, Jochen Hack
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110730

Research Groups

• Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut Bundesforschungsinstitut für L¨andliche R¨aume Wald und Fischerei, Germany
• Schleswig-Holstein State Ministry of Agriculture Rural Areas European Affairs and Consumer Protection, Germany
• State Authority for Mining Energy and Geology Lower Saxony, Germany
• TU Darmstadt Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Germany
• European University of Technology, European Union

Short Summary

This study introduces AIDspat, a new framework for estimating agricultural irrigation demand (AID) that combines a soil water balance model with irrigation scheduling. The model enables scenario-based calculations at low computational cost across scales, from individual field to national assessments.

Objective

• Estimate agricultural irrigation demand (AID) using a combination of soil water balance and irrigation scheduling models

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Local to national scale
• Temporal Scale: Daily to annual scale

Methodology and Data

• Models used: AIDspat model, which combines BOWAB (soil water balance model) with irrigation scheduling sub-models
• Data sources: Location-based climate, soil, land use data; crop-specific parameters; irrigation techniques; farmers' irrigation management decisions

Main Results

• The model demonstrates a high degree of alignment between modeled values and literature benchmarks for various agricultural crops.
• Modeled results show good agreement with measured irrigation volumes, with a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of approximately 16.9% over 2017–2023.

Contributions

• AIDspat provides planners and policymakers with an irrigation decision support system to analyze the impact of agricultural systems, climatic changes, and agricultural decision-making processes.
• The model's ability to capture spatial and temporal dynamics of AID provides valuable insights for sustainable management of agricultural water.

Funding

• This research was funded by [insert funding agency/program/project codes].

Citation

@article{Bernhardt2026AIDspat,
  author = {Bernhardt, Jacob Jeff and Potts, Frank and Bug, Jan and Zinnbauer, Maximilian and Eysholdt, Max and Hack, Jochen},
  title = {AIDspat: Introduction of a model framework to estimate spatio-temporal agricultural irrigation demands – A study area in Germany},
  journal = {Agricultural Water Management},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110730},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110730}
}