A new strategy aimed at ensuring that irrigated agriculture receives a fair share of the nation's water resources and uses it in a sustainable and efficient way has been launched by the UK Irrigation Association (UKIA).
Professor Jerry Knox of Cranfield University presented the strategy: Irrigation water strategy for UK agriculture and horticulture, at the recent UKIA conference.
He said: "Other sectors and businesses are taking resources planning very seriously and we are being challenged by groups such as Water Resources East on what is agriculture's plan?
"Agriculture, outside of agriculture is viewed as low cost, marginal and a non-essential user of water. We need to push it in terms of importance."
Prof Knox said water companies are legally required to produce Water Resource Management Plans (WRMPs) every five years to identify water-related risks facing public water supplies over the next 25-year period and to set out their strategic investment plans to cope with population growth, socio-economic development and climate change. He added that agriculture should adopt a similar approach to forward planning.
Liaising with the UK agricultural and horticultural community, three strategic themes were identified:
- Managing irrigation ‘hotspots' and forecasting demand;
- Addressing regulatory and environmental challenges linked to a changing climate;
- Working together to build resilience to climate and water risks.
Knowledge gaps and priorities for action have been identified for action. However, agriculture lacks a joined up approach to water resources management, acknowledged Prof Knox. "Water companies have combined resources, funding and full-time professionals to provide and effective means for knowledge sharing and developing a well-co-ordinated voice for responding to water policy and business risks. In contrast there is no equivalent in agriculture, either regionally or nationally."
While collaborations such as the Water for Food Group and water abstractor groups exist, their resources are limited. Initiated by Anglian Water, Water Resources East has been a leading light in demonstrating multi-sector collaboration concerning water use but it is regional.
Knowledge gaps
Under each of three themes, the strategy identifies knowledge gaps and priorities for action.
Theme 1: Managing irrigation ‘hotspots' and forecasting demand
- Irrigated areas: Scope to derive accurate estimates of irrigated area and proportions of each crop irrigated by combining high resolution satellite imagery with abstraction data
- Impacts of agro-economic policy on yields and prices: Develop narratives that describe how national agricultural policies are linked to food security, self-sufficiency and agricultural trade
- Develop demand forecasts that take into account resource availability and reliability at catchment level
- Assess the impacts of changes in international trade agreements and tariffs on the UK field vegetables and salads sector, where a large proportion of UK supply is dependent on EU imports
Theme 2: Addressing regulatory and environmental challenges linked to a changing climate
On-farm
- Support for the development of technologies to implement precision irrigation
- Promote uptake of new tools to improve scheduling
- Support farm-level initiatives to increase water storage
- Support farmer-focused initiatives in Environment Agency priority catchments
Off-farm
- Support more flexible collaborative approaches (including trading) that make best use of existing resources
- Support on-going initiatives to foster multi-sector engagement to identify opportunities for shared infrastructure investment
- Develop catchment-based approaches to improve water use and allocation in agriculture
- Build ecological resilience in river systems through river restoration to reduce drought impacts
- Supply near real-time river flow information to enable farmers to know when to take advantage of short duration high flows to refill reservoirs, or prior knowledge of likely low flows
Theme 3: Working together to build resilience to climate and water risks
- Support regional-level measures for the water regulator and farming businesses to work together to reduce drought impacts on agriculture and the environment
- Identify actions to foster stronger multi-sectoral collaboration, such as sharing data, access to improved weather forecasts, devolved responsibilities for catchment-scale water management and trading portals
- Identify existing gaps in understanding, including data needs, information and evidence to underpin implementation of this strategy, and agree on how theses gaps should be addressed, including funding and delivery mechanisms
- Define projects for action including case studies, policy briefings, water valuations and supporting regional Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with key businesses and organisations
- Identify where and how agricultural abstractors can usefully engage and contribute to local initiatives, including catchment-based approaches and river partnerships
