Irrigating Crops with Seawater Brown J. Jed, Glenn Edward P., and O’Leary James W. 1998. Irrigating Crops with Seawater. Scientific American. “Irrigating Crops with Seawater” talks about the global problem of finding enough water and land for the world’s population to survive. An estimated 494.2 million acres of cropland is needed just to feed the tropics and subtropics for the next 30 years. However, only close to 200 million acres are available. Therefore, new sources of water and land are needed to grow crops. The writers of this article have been testing the prospect of using seawater in agriculture.