Abstract
European irrigated agriculture is very important in economic, social and environmental terms. A linear programming model that simulates the farmers' behaviour in cropping selection was used to evaluate the impact on farm performance of intervention measures, namely: 1) volumetric pricing; 2) abstraction quota restrictions that might be used to ration water and/or increase water use efficiency. The consequences of these policy mechanisms were evaluated, using two conflicting objectives. The first objective enabled to maximise the farmers' profit, while the second one represents the regulators' perspective, to ration water more efficiently by minimising the irrigated water use. The tradeoff analysis between the socio-economic efficiency and the environmental performance revealed the fragility of the farming systems in water scarcity. The results highlight the need for a more careful balance of water conservation and rural development objectives. The approach is illustrated using a case study on irrigated agriculture in East Midlands of England.
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