Global crop production is getting more water-efficient. This new paper finds that "nearly 80% of crops reduced global average unit [water footprints] as crop yields improved and cultivation centred around more productive areas" iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

How was that achieved? And is this the foreseeable end of possible efficiency gains or can we expect more (maybe even accelerating progress?) With CRISPR and other advanced techniques?

However, total crop production went up by so much that total water use increased by 30%. Relative but not absolute decoupling, in other words.