Analysis of Intended Farmers’ Response to CAP Scenarios: Environmental considerations

This research is a result of the CAP-IRE project which objective is the understanding farmer’s reactions under CAP scenarios by 2020. In particular this research aims to analyze the role of the current CAP design on the farmer’s decision process focusing on several environmental issues. The analysis is based on 2,360 observations of household farmers across 11 cases study in 9 EU countries. Intended responses of farmers to the CAP reforms are analyzed by logistic model regression. According to the results CAP scenarios would influence farmer’s decision on fertilizers and pesticides, as well as water use, while the highest effect is found for decisions on number of animal rearing on the farm. Factors determining reaction to the CAP scenario are monetary and non-monetary, as well as structural and spatial. CAP role appears to be non univocal and strongly case-specific, as it substantially differs across regions according to their socio-economic structureEnvironmental sustainability, Farmer’s intended behaviour, Logistic regression, Agricultural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q18,

Extreme events

Working paper, Dpto Economia Agraria, Universidad de Córdoba, presented at CIRCLE-2 SHARE Workshop. Responses to Extreme Water related Events (Madrid, Nov 2012

The microeconomics of water demand under deficit irrigation: a case study in Southern Spain

This contribution presents an exploratory analysis of the microeconomics of deficit irrigation (DI) as a technique with growing prevalence in water scarce areas, as it is the case of southern Spain. We analyze farmer decisions based upon their subjective beliefs about water production function that farmers could attribute to this technology. The dynamic nature of water policy means that these technologies, which can be labelled as water saving techniques, have a relevant impact on the farmers’ decision process about the applied water doses and the structure of the water demand.Secretaría General de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación MINECO AGL2014-53417-

The microeconomics of water demand under deficit irrigation: a case study in Southern Spain

This contribution presents an exploratory analysis of the microeconomics of deficit irrigation (DI) as a technique with growing prevalence in water scarce areas, as it is the case of southern Spain. We analyze farmer decisions based upon their subjective beliefs about water production function that farmers could attribute to this technology. The dynamic nature of water policy means that these technologies, which can be labelled as water saving techniques, have a relevant impact on the farmers’ decision process about the applied water doses and the structure of the water demand.Secretaría General de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación MINECO AGL2014-53417-

Agricultural Irrigation Water Use in a Closed Basin and the Impacts on Water Productivity: The Case of the Guadalquivir River Basin (Southern Spain)

This paper analyses the agricultural irrigation water use in a closed basin and the impacts on water productivity, and examines how they have affected the ‘closure’ process of the Guadalquivir river basin observed in recent decades. Following a period of expansion in irrigation, an administrative moratorium was declared on new irrigated areas in 2005. Since then, the main policy measure has been aimed at the modernisation of irrigated agriculture and the implementation of water conservation technologies. The analysis carried out in this paper shows a significant increase in mean irrigation water productivity in the pre‐moratorium period (1989–2005), driven by the creation of new irrigated areas devoted to high value crops and with a dominant use of deficit irrigation strategies, while a second phase (2005–2012) is characterised by slower growth in terms of the mean productivity of irrigation water, primarily as a result of a significant reduction in water use per area. Findings show that productivity gains seem to have reached a ceiling in this river basin, since technological innovations (such as new crops, deficit irrigation, and water‐saving and conservation technologies) have reached the limits of their capacity to create new valu

Sustainability Implications of Deficit Irrigation in a Mature Water Economy: A Case Study in Southern Spain

Deficit irrigation (DI) is an agricultural practice in which the volume of irrigation water applied during the crop cycle is below the irrigation requirements for maximum production, the aim of which is to increase irrigation water productivity. Most research on this technique has focused on agronomic strategies while the economic and environmental consequences have received little attention. This study aims to shed some light on this matter and presents preliminary results regarding the implications of DI with respect to the sustainable use of water resources. The analysis is based on the DPSIR analytical framework (Driving force/Pressure/State/Impact/Response) and the microeconomics of DI. The case study focuses on intensive olive groves in the Guadalquivir river basin in Southern Spain (where olive cultivation accounts for 50% of the total irrigated area). The analysis shows that the widespread use of DI practices, which is the farmers’ response to a decreasing net water supply and falling farm incomes (driving force) in the context of a mature water economy, may help to break the DPSIR chain of causality, provided that there are restrictions on any expansion in irrigated area. They can, thus, play a role in achieving sustainable water use. Conversely, demand and supply (regulator) responses involving raising the price of water would lead to higher pressures on the resource and represent a negative driving force in our DPSIR model

Why Is Water Pricing Ineffective for Deficit Irrigation Schemes? A Case Study in Southern Spain

This paper explores the impact on water demand of the adoption of deficit and precision irrigation as a farmer’s attempt to respond to water scarcity by maximising water productivity. The case study is characterised by the intensive use of deficit irrigation techniques in olive groves, which account for 50% of all irrigated land in southern Spain. These technologies have an important influence on the structure of the water demand. This study reveals that following the adoption of such technologies, water demand does not respond to moderate changes in water price, unless price increases become so great that they reach a threshold price representing a disproportionate and unaffordable social impact. This fact has significant consequences for water policy as water pricing becomes an ineffective instrument for managing water demand in a context characterised by resource scarcity and farmers’ adoption of deficit irrigation techniques

Review and Analysis of Alternatives for the Valorisation of Agro-Industrial Olive Oil By-Products

By-products and waste from olive production (agriculture) and the olive oil industry (mills and refineries) are an important environmental issue in Mediterranean areas. Industrial waste and by-products contain highly valuable components that can also be phytotoxic. This article reviews recent research on the valorisation of olive by-products under the bioeconomy strategy. The alternatives are classified according to the ‘bioeconomy value pyramid’, which prioritises higher value uses over the current energy and compost valorisation. Special attention is paid to the use of these by-products for animal feed that can be improved by reducing the content of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and increase the polyunsaturated fatty acids amount considered beneficial in response to their use; this makes the food healthier for humans while simultaneously reducing feeding costs and the environmental impact of livestock