Description
Water-Energy-Food-Nutrient-Carbon Nexus Analysis for Agronomic Systems.
Description
Provides functions for analysing Water-Energy-Food-Nutrient-Carbon (WEFNC) nexus interactions in agricultural production systems. Includes functions for computing water use efficiency (WUE), water productivity (WP), and water footprint (WF) including green, blue, and grey components following the methodology of Hoekstra et al. (2011, ISBN:9781849712798). Includes energy budgeting tools for energy use efficiency (EUE), energy return on investment (EROI), net energy (NE), and energy productivity (EP). Computes nutrient use efficiency (NUE) metrics including agronomic efficiency (AE), physiological efficiency (PE), recovery efficiency (RE), and partial factor productivity (PFP) as defined by Dobermann (2007) <https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/agronomyfacpub/316/> and Congreves et al. (2021) <doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.637108>. Estimates carbon footprint (CF), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, and global warming potential (GWP) using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) default values (CH4 = 27, N2O = 273) as reported in Forster et al. (2021) <doi:10.1017/9781009157896.009>. Computes composite Water-Energy-Food-Nutrient-Carbon (WEFNC) nexus indices, trade-off correlation matrices, and generates radar and heatmap visualizations for comparing agricultural treatments. Supports conservation agriculture (CA), irrigated and rain-fed systems, and arid and semi-arid production environments. Methods follow Lal (2004) <doi:10.1016/j.envint.2004.03.005> for carbon emissions from farm operations, and Hoover et al. (2023) <doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160992> for water use efficiency indicators.
README.md
wefnexus 
Overview
wefnexus provides a comprehensive toolkit for analyzing Water-Energy-Food-Nutrient-Carbon (WEFNC) nexus interactions in agricultural production systems. It includes 68 functions across 6 modules with a nexus integration layer.
Installation
Install from CRAN:
install.packages("wefnexus")
Modules
| Module | Functions | Key Metrics |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 11 | WUE, WP, WF (green/blue/grey), CWSI, CWP, RUE, IWP, WSI |
| Energy | 14 | EUE, EROI (standard + extended), EP, EI, NER, REF, energy budget |
| Food | 12 | FPI, HI, LER, SPI, SYI, nutritional yield, BCR |
| Nutrient | 11 | AE, PE, RE, PFP, IUE, NHI, N surplus, SNI |
| Carbon | 10 | CF, GHG, SOC, GWP (IPCC AR6), CEI, NECB |
| Nexus | 10 | Composite index, trade-off matrix, sensitivity, radar, heatmap |
Quick Example
library(wefnexus)
data(arid_pulse_nexus)
d <- arid_pulse_nexus
# Compute EROI with extended analysis
e_out <- d$energy_output_grain + d$energy_output_straw
eroi(energy_out = e_out, energy_in = d$energy_input)
# Full nexus summary
nexus_summary(
yield = d$grain_yield,
water_consumed = d$total_water,
energy_input = d$energy_input,
energy_output = e_out,
n_applied = d$n_applied,
n_uptake = d$n_uptake,
carbon_emission = d$ghg_emission,
treatment_names = d$treatment
)
Key Features
- 68 functions across 6 integrated modules
- EROI with standard, extended, and Net Energy Ratio analysis
- IPCC AR6 GWP defaults: CH4 = 27, N2O = 273 (100-yr horizon)
- Nutritional yield analysis (protein, Fe, Zn, persons fed)
- Nexus sensitivity analysis for weight perturbation assessment
- Conservation agriculture focus (CT/ZT/PB comparisons)
- Arid and semi-arid environment emphasis
- CRAN-ready: verbose parameter, proper documentation
- Base R graphics: zero external plotting dependencies
Citation
Rolaniya, L.K., Poonia, H., Jat, R.L., Punia, M. & Choudhary, R.R. (2026).
wefnexus: Water-Energy-Food-Nutrient-Carbon Nexus Analysis for Agronomic
Systems. R package version 1.0.0. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=wefnexus
License
GPL (>= 3)