Guido Maria Bazzani

The sustainability of irrigated agricultural systems under the Water Framework Directive: first results ☆

Abstract The paper reports the first results of the Project WADI (Sustainability of European Irrigated Agriculture under Water Directive and Agenda 2000), funded under the 5th Framework Programme of the European Union (EU). The objective of the project is to evaluate the economic, social and environmental sustainability of European irrigated farming under different scenarios concerning water policy and the Common Agricultural Policy. The methodology relies on scenario analysis combined with farm level mathematical programming models. Two pilot case studies are presented for Italy: cereal farming and fruit farming. According to the first results, the impact of the directive, up to reasonable prices, may be summed up in a minor reduction of water use associated with a sharp decrease of farm income and a significant reduction of employment. Nevertheless, different farming systems may react in very different ways. More detailed local analyses are needed in order to support the design of effective and efficient policies at basin level.

Evaluation of the Recreational Uses of Rural Land: A Case Study

The recreational use of agricultural land is emerging as one of the main opportunities for income production and rural development in many rural areas of the world. Many agri-environmental measures are directly aimed at improving the recreational value of rural land through the provision of direct services or landscape improvement.

Application of Agro-Environmental Programs in Emilia-Romagna Region

The recent regulation 1257/99/EC provides for the funding of new agro-environmental measures, representing the continuation of those introduced by the 1992 CAP reform. Past application of agro-environmental policies raised a large debate about the best way of carrying out the interventions. The definition of payment levels and the setting up of suitable monitoring procedures are two major issues on which a large degree of disagreement still remains.