Economic incentives encourage farmers to improve water management in California

Water Policy ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Wichelns
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Irrigation District ◽  
Drain Water ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
San Joaquin River ◽  
Water Volumes ◽  
Individual Use

Economic incentives are used in many situations to motivate improvements in the use of scarce resources. In some areas, implementing appropriate incentives is made challenging by the nature of existing institutions or the inability to assign property rights and measure individual use of key resources. Higher prices for irrigation water can motivate wiser use of water in regions where the opportunity cost of water is rising, due to increasing municipal, industrial and environmental demands. This paper describes how an increasing block-rate pricing structure was designed and implemented in an irrigation district in central California. The goals of the program were to improve water management practices and reduce the volume of subsurface drain water discharged into the San Joaquin River. Results describing reductions in average irrigation depths and drain water volumes, collected throughout the 1990s, demonstrate the potential for achieving resource management goals with economic incentives that motivate changes in farm-level management practices. Complementary incentive programs and issues regarding program implementation and the sustainability of drain water reduction efforts in an arid region also are discussed.

Good Management Practices in Managing the Most Important Factors to Ensure Dureble Soil Quality

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 2350-2357
Author(s):  
George Ungureanu ◽  
Gabriela Ignat ◽  
Eduard Boghita ◽  
Luiza Costuleanu ◽  
Catalin Razvan Vintu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Programming Model ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Silage Maize ◽  
Cash Crops ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Fodder Grass ◽  
Alfalfa Silage

The importance of sustainable development has started to be acknowledged in Romania as well, once the various pollution sources and the restrictions affecting industrial and agricultural pollution were identified, from an economic and ecological standpoint. Sustainable development represents the need of raising awareness about environmental protection and educating people, and this aspect is reflected by the evolution of communal policies in recent years, policies marked by a shift from an approach based on constraints and sanctions to a higher level of flexibility, based on incentives. The purpose of this paper is to make a recommendation for improving existing policy by making an assessment of economic incentives in order to stimulate farmers to adopt sustainable farming systems of a viable, sustainable agriculture, capable to apply the newest technologies and lead to profit and efficiency, to the economical and organizational consolidation. To analyse the effects of different zone packages on income of farmers and the environment a linear programming model is developed for a typical, 192 ha mixed farm in the Iasi region plain pilot area. The major activities of the farm is keeping dairy cattle, growing fodder (grass, alfalfa, silage maize) and cash crops (winter wheat and maize).

Concepts and Practices for Improving Nitrogen Management for Vegetables

1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
George J. Hochmuth
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
N Fertilization ◽  
Nitrogen Management ◽  
Land Grant ◽  
Land Grant Universities ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
N Management

Efficient N management practices usually involve many potential strategies, but always involve choosing the correct amount of N and the coupling of N management to efficient water management. Nitrogen management strategies are integral parts of improved production practices recommended by land-grant universities such as the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Univ. of Florida. This paper, which draws heavily on research and experience in Florida, outlines the concepts and technologies for managing vegetable N fertilization to minimize negative impacts on the environment.

Agricultural best management practices and surface water improvement and management

1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 109-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Anderson ◽  
E. G. Flaig
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Agricultural Runoff ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Lake Okeechobee ◽  
Runoff Water ◽  
Best Management ◽  
Management Plans

Restoration and enhancement of Lake Okeechobee and the Florida Everglades requires a comprehensive approach to manage agricultural runoff. The Florida Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Act of 1987 was promulgated to develop and implement plans for protecting Florida waters. The South Florida Water Management District was directed by Florida legislature to develop management plans for Lake Okeechobee (SWIM) and the Everglades ecosystem (Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades Protection Act of 1991). These plans require agriculture to implement best management practices (BMPs) to reduce runoff phosphorus (P) loads. The Lake Okeechobee SWIM plan established a P load reduction target for Lake Okeechobee and set P concentration limitations for runoff from non-point source agricultural sources. Agricultural water users in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) are required to develop farm management plans to reduce P loads from the basin by 25%. The Everglades Forever Act of 1994 additionally emphasized linkage of these landscapes and consequent protection and restoration of the Everglades. Agricultural BMPs are being developed and implemented to comply with water management, environmental, and regulatory standards. Although BMPs are improving runoff water quality, additional research is necessary to obtain the best combination of BMPs for individual farms. This paper summarizes the development of comprehensive water management in south Florida and the agricultural BMPs carried out to meet regulatory requirements for Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades.

Managing Water Resources, Past and Present

2004 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Water Politics ◽  
European Water ◽  
The Usa ◽  
British Experience ◽  
Over Exploitation

A multi-disciplinary analysis of the evolution of water politics and policy by an international team of distinguished experts. Water management in the Middle Ages in Europe, its evolution in the USA, the elaboration of the European Water Framework Directive, the British experience of water management, the over-exploitation of African aquifers, and the evolution of the water situation in Southern Africa are all examined. This volume underlines the fact that only an integrative and interdisciplinary understanding can lead to genuinely improved water management practices that will not benefit some social groups at the expense of others.

scholarly journals High-Resolution Monitoring and Assessment of Evapotranspiration and Gross Primary Production Using Remote Sensing in a Typical Arid Region

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 396
Author(s):  
Junxia Yan ◽  
Yanfei Ma ◽  
Dongyun Zhang ◽  
Zechen Li ◽  
Weike Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Arid Region ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Gross Primary Production ◽  
Irrigation District ◽  
Heihe River ◽  
Freshwater Resource ◽  
Oasis Area

Land surface evapotranspiration (ET) and gross primary productivity (GPP) are critical components in terrestrial ecosystems with water and carbon cycles. Large-scale, high-resolution, and accurately quantified ET and GPP values are important fundamental data for freshwater resource management and help in understanding terrestrial carbon and water cycles in an arid region. In this study, the revised surface energy balance system (SEBS) model and MOD17 GPP algorithm were used to estimate daily ET and GPP at 100 m resolution based on multi-source satellite remote sensing data to obtain surface biophysical parameters and meteorological forcing data as input variables for the model in the midstream oasis area of the Heihe River Basin (HRB) from 2010 to 2016. Then, we further calculated the ecosystem water-use efficiency (WUE). We validated the daily ET, GPP, and WUE from ground observations at a crop oasis station and conducted spatial intercomparisons of monthly and annual ET, GPP, and WUE at the irrigation district and cropland oasis scales. The site-level evaluation results show that ET and GPP had better performance than WUE at the daily time scale. Specifically, the deviations in the daily ET, GPP, and WUE data compared with ground observations were small, with a root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute percent error (MAPE) of 0.75 mm/day and 26.59%, 1.13 gC/m2 and 36.62%, and 0.50 gC/kgH2O and 39.83%, respectively. The regional annual ET, GPP, and WUE varied from 300 to 700 mm, 200 to 650 gC/m2, and 0.5 to 1.0 gC/kgH2O, respectively, over the entire irrigation oasis area. It was found that annual ET and GPP were greater than 550 mm and 500 gC/m2, and annual oasis cropland WUE had strong invariability and was maintained at approximately 0.85 gC/kgH2O. The spatial intercomparisons from 2010 to 2016 revealed that ET had similar spatial patterns to GPP due to tightly coupled carbon and water fluxes. However, the WUE spatiotemporal patterns were slightly different from both ET and GPP, particularly in the early and late growing seasons for the oasis area. Our results demonstrate that spatial full coverage and reasonably fine spatiotemporal variation and variability could significantly improve our understanding of water-saving irrigation strategies and oasis agricultural water management practices in the face of water shortage issues.

Water Management Practices: Use Patterns, Related Factors, and Correlations With Irrigated Acres

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yefan Nian ◽  
Qiuqiong Huang ◽  
Kent F. Kovacs ◽  
Christopher Henry ◽  
Jason Krutz
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Use Patterns

scholarly journals Innovative Extension Methods in the U.S. to Promote Irrigation Water Management

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1549-1558
Author(s):  
Daran R. Rudnick ◽  
Matt Stockton ◽  
Saleh Taghvaeian ◽  
Jason Warren ◽  
Michael D. Dukes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
New Technology ◽  
List Type ◽  
Extension Programs ◽  
Irrigation Water Management ◽  
Primary Means

HIGHLIGHTSUniversity extension has been playing a larger role, serving a larger number of irrigated farms.Extension programs in irrigation water management (IWM) have been transitioning away from lectures and field tours as the primary means of knowledge transfer.New IWM programs focus on experiential learning, development of practitioner networks, and industry participation.Abstract. Promotion and adoption of irrigation water management (IWM) technology, tools, and best management practices are important as water availability concerns are addressed. Traditional extension programs have relied on lecture presentations, field tours, fact sheets, and on-station demonstrations to promote IWM practices and tools. However, these platforms tend not to provide the experience and opportunity for growers to identify and become comfortable with innovative solutions, such as new technology. To address these challenges and to appeal to an ever-changing client base, innovative and locally relevant extension and outreach programs have been devised to engage and educate growers. This article describes some of these programs that extend beyond previous traditional programs to connect growers with IWM. Keywords: Demonstrations, Experiential learning, Grower competition, Outreach, Practitioner networks.

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