Coupling information provision with sharing rules for water conservation: French farmers’ preferences for data reporting

Abstract

Providing farmers with information on their irrigation efficiency and establishing prioritized access to water accordingly requires data. This study assesses French farmers’ preferences for a scheme incentivizing the adoption of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI). Choice experiment results show that 37–60 per cent of the 202 farmers interviewed are willing to adopt RDI in exchange for priority water access, depending on data requirements. Accounting for data reporting preferences is crucial for enhancing water savings in irrigated systems. While mandatory smart meters reduce the potential water savings due to farmer opposition, most farmers accept reporting cropping patterns.