Modelling and mapping the economic value of supplemental irrigation in a humid climate

Rey, Dolores; Holman, Ian; Daccache, André; Morris, Joe; Knox, Jerry W.

doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2016.04.017

Cited by 61 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Third, the on‐farm economic losses due to irrigation restrictions, based on losses of yield and quality assurance benefits, are estimated for each crop category (pounds per hectare, using national average prices for each crop over the past three drought episodes in the United Kingdom; 2003, 2004–2006, and 2010–2012) building on the methodology developed by Morris et al () and updated by Rey et al (). It is assumed that there is a linear and positive relationship between the level of restriction in a given month (and, by inference, reduction in irrigation application) and monthly economic damages, up to a maximum value represented by the total cessation damages from Morris et al (; updated in Rey et al, ) representing level 3 restrictions. As the monthly damages in Morris et al () are associated with restrictions being imposed for the whole of each month, we assumed that economic losses in a given month are proportional to the number of days under restriction in the month.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, it applies current environmental regulatory triggers to daily catchment‐scale rainfall from dynamically downscaled and bias‐corrected climate projections (Guillod et al, ; Guillod et al, ) and simulated river flow from a national‐scale hydrological model (Bell et al, ), to obtain the current and future timing, frequency, severity, and duration of abstraction restrictions. Second, a probabilistic risk‐based analysis of economic losses in irrigated agriculture from catchment to national scale is performed through applying crop‐specific loss functions to a national spatial data set of irrigated cropping (Rey et al, ) according to the timing, duration, and severity of the restrictions. The study develops and demonstrates an approach to evaluate the economic implications of water restrictions during drought conditions, which can be applied elsewhere to support environmental regulators and farmers toward making informed decisions based on the economic risks associated with water abstraction restrictions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Probabilistic Risk Assessment of the National Economic Impacts of Regulatory Drought Management on Irrigated Agriculture

et al. 2019

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Drought frequency and intensity is expected to increase in many regions worldwide, and water shortages could become more extreme, even in humid temperate climates. To protect the environment and secure water supplies, water abstractions for irrigation can be mandatorily reduced by environmental regulators. Such abstraction restrictions can result in economic impacts on irrigated agriculture. This study provides a novel approach for the probabilistic risk assessment of potential future economic losses in irrigated agriculture arising from the interaction of climate change and regulatory drought management, with an application to England and Wales. Hydrometeorological variability is considered within a synthetic data set of daily rainfall and river flows for a baseline period (1977–2004) and for projections for near future (2022–2049) and far future (2072–2099). The probability, magnitude, and timing of abstraction restrictions are derived by applying rainfall and river flow triggers in 129 catchments. The risk of economic losses at the catchment level is then obtained from the occurrences of abstraction restrictions combined with spatially distributed crop‐specific economic losses. Results show that restrictions will become more severe, more frequent, and longer in the future. The highest economic risks are projected where drought‐sensitive crops with a high financial value are concentrated in catchments with increasingly uncertain water supply. This research highlights the significant economic losses associated with mandatory drought restrictions experienced by the agricultural sector and supports the need for environmental regulators and irrigators to collaboratively manage scarce water resources to balance environmental and economic considerations.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Probabilistic Risk Assessment of the National Economic Impacts of Regulatory Drought Management on Irrigated Agriculture

et al. 2019

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“…However, the true value of irrigation might become visible only during droughts. For example, in England and Wales, the net economic benefit of irrigation in a dry year was estimated at £665 million [60]. Irrigation has been in decline in Finland since 1995 after Finland joined the EU.…”

Section: Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

Can There be Water Scarcity with Abundance of Water? Analyzing Water Stress during a Severe Drought in Finland

et al. 2019

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Severe droughts can affect water security even in countries with ample water resources. In addition, droughts are estimated to become more frequent in several regions due to changing climate. Drought affects many socio-economic sectors (e.g., agriculture, water supply, and industry), as it did in 2018 in Finland. Understanding the basin-wide picture is crucial in drought management planning. To identify vulnerable and water stressed areas in Finland, a water use-to-availability analysis was executed with a reference drought. Water stress was analyzed with the Water Depletion Index WDI. The analysis was executed using national water permits and databases. To represent a severe but realistic drought event, we modelled discharges and runoffs from the worst drought of the last century in Finland (1939)(1940)(1941)(1942). The potential for performing similar analyses in data scarce contexts was also tested using estimates from global models as a screening tool. The results show that the South and Southwest of Finland would have problems with water availability during a severe drought. The most vulnerable areas would benefit from drought mitigation measures and management plans. These measures could be incorporated into the EU River Basin Management Plans.

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“…Although the average yield is higher in a dry year compared to the wet year there is also much greater yield variability; this is largely due to the inappropriate irrigation schedule for field areas (35%) that were assumed to be a clay loam in contrast to the 65% area that was scheduled assuming a sandy loam soil. Under this scenario, yield variability is much higher compared to Scenario 1; in practice, this yield variability would also likely lead to greater variations in crop quality, which is an important determinant of crop price received by a farmer for quality assurance (Rey et al 2016) particularly in high value crops such as onions and potatoes.…”

Section: Scenariomentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling impacts of precision irrigation on crop yield and in-field water management

et al. 2017

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Precision irrigation technologies are being widely promoted to resolve challenges regarding improving crop productivity under conditions of increasing water scarcity. In this paper, the development of an integrated modelling approach involving the coupling of a water application model with a biophysical crop simulation model (Aquacrop) to evaluate the in-field impacts of precision irrigation on crop yield and soil water management is described. The approach allows for a comparison between conventional irrigation management practices against a range of alternate so-called 'precision irrigation' strategies (including variable rate irrigation, VRI). It also provides a valuable framework to evaluate the agronomic (yield), water resource (irrigation use and water efficiency), energy (consumption, costs, footprint) and environmental (nitrate leaching, drainage) impacts under contrasting irrigation management scenarios. The approach offers scope for including feedback loops to help define appropriate irrigation management zones and refine application depths accordingly for scheduling irrigation. The methodology was applied to a case study in eastern England to demonstrate the utility of the framework and the impacts of precision irrigation in a humid climate on a high-value field crop (onions). For the case study, the simulations showed how VRI is a potentially useful approach for irrigation management even in a humid environment to save water and reduce deep percolation losses (drainage). It also helped to increase crop yield due to improved control of soil water in the root zone, especially during a dry season.

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Modelling and mapping the economic value of supplemental irrigation in a humid climate

Cited by 61 publications

References 21 publications

A Probabilistic Risk Assessment of the National Economic Impacts of Regulatory Drought Management on Irrigated Agriculture

A Probabilistic Risk Assessment of the National Economic Impacts of Regulatory Drought Management on Irrigated Agriculture

Can There be Water Scarcity with Abundance of Water? Analyzing Water Stress during a Severe Drought in Finland

Modelling impacts of precision irrigation on crop yield and in-field water management

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