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Improving productivity and water use efficiency: A case study of farms in England

Author

Listed:
  • Gadanakis, Yiorgos
  • Bennett, Richard
  • Park, Julian
  • Areal, Francisco Jose

Abstract

The idea of Sustainable Intensification comes as a response to the challenge of avoiding resources such as land, water and energy being overexploited while increasing food production for an increasing demand from a growing global population. Sustainable Intensification means that farmers need to simultaneously increase yields and sustainably use limited natural resources, such as water. Within the agricultural sector water has a number of uses including irrigation, spraying, drinking for livestock and washing (vegetables, livestock buildings). In order to achieve Sustainable Intensification measures are needed that enable policy makers and managers to inform them about the relative performance of farms as well as of possible ways to improve such performance. We provide a benchmarking tool to assess water use (relative) efficiency at a farm level, suggest pathways to improve farm level productivity by identifying best practices for reducing excessive use of water for irrigation. Data envelopment analysis techniques including analysis of returns to scale were used to evaluate any excess in agricultural water use of 66 horticulture farms based on different river basin catchments across England. We found that farms in the sample can reduce on average water requirements by 35% to achieve the same output (Gross Margin) when compared to their peers on the frontier. In addition, 47% of the farms operate under increasing returns to scale, indicating that farms will need to develop economies of scale to achieve input cost savings. Regarding the adoption of specific water use efficiency management practices, we found that the use of a decision support tool, recycling water and the installation of trickle/drip/spray lines irrigation system has a positive impact on water use efficiency at a farm level whereas the use of other irrigation systems such as the overhead irrigation system was found to have a negative effect on water use efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Gadanakis, Yiorgos & Bennett, Richard & Park, Julian & Areal, Francisco Jose, 2015. "Improving productivity and water use efficiency: A case study of farms in England," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 22-32.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:160:y:2015:i:c:p:22-32
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2015.06.020
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    6. Long, Kaisheng & Pijanowski, Bryan C., 2017. "Is there a relationship between water scarcity and water use efficiency in China? A national decadal assessment across spatial scales," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 502-511.
    7. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Bazilian, Morgan & Griffiths, Steve & Kim, Jinsoo & Foley, Aoife & Rooney, David, 2021. "Decarbonizing the food and beverages industry: A critical and systematic review of developments, sociotechnical systems and policy options," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    8. Watkins, K. Bradley & Henry, Chris G. & Hardke, Jarrod T. & Mane, Ranjitsinh U. & Mazzanti, Ralph & Baker, Ron, 2021. "Non-radial technical efficiency measurement of irrigation water relative to other inputs used in Arkansas rice production," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    9. Ali, M.K., 2018. "Estimation of irrigation water use efficiency with a stochastic frontier model," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277354, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. García-López, J. & García-Ruiz, R. & Domínguez, J. & Lorite, I.J., 2019. "Improving the sustainability of farming systems under semi-arid conditions by enhancing crop management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Nguyen Bich Hong & Mitsuyasu Yabe, 2017. "Improvement in irrigation water use efficiency: a strategy for climate change adaptation and sustainable development of Vietnamese tea production," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1247-1263, August.
    12. Ming Zhang & Jiayan Qin & Hong Tan & Heliang Mao & Xianjin Tu & Juanfeng Jian, 2023. "Education level of farmers, market-oriented reforms, and the utilization efficiency of agricultural water resources in China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 3927-3947, December.
    13. Aizhi Yu & Entai Cai & Min Yang & Zhishan Li, 2022. "An Analysis of Water Use Efficiency of Staple Grain Productions in China: Based on the Crop Water Footprints at Provincial Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-23, May.
    14. Emad S. Aljohani & Benaissa Chidmi, 2024. "Analyzing Technical Efficiency in Cereal Production across Selected European Union Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-27, January.
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    16. Yiorgos Gadanakis & Jorge Campos-González & Philip Jones, 2024. "Linking Entrepreneurship to Productivity: Using a Composite Indicator for Farm-Level Innovation in UK Agriculture with Secondary Data," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-23, March.

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