Innovación empresarial y agricultura ecológica en Los Monegros durante el siglo XX

This work shows the evolution from traditional irrigation to the one based on large irrigation schemes in the Aragonese region of Los Monegros during the second half of 20th century, and its relationship with public-policy driven changes in landscape, society and production. The evidence on the limits of new irrigation schemes leads to the analysis of a possible recovery of the traditional irrigation and its potential contribution to the sustainability of local agriculture. It is suggested that such a step integrated the practices of ecological agriculture as an entrepreneurial innovation. Official data and field work are used to compare both kinds of irrigation, with the following results: (1) data about historical evolution of water and landscape usages, including an analysis of different public institutions’ interventions and the consequent change in social relations; (2) economic margins per hectare of agrarian business in each considered type of irrigation; (3) description of possible environmental profits or costs derived from adopting one irrigation type or another; (4) proposal for an agrarian innovative business based on the social possibilities of the territory.