This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Irrigation controls research
05/09/2002
The results of research into the potential economic
impacts of the introduction of irrigation controls in
Scotland have been published.
Commissioned by the Executive, the research looks
specifically at the costs to potato growers, the highest
users of water in the agricultural sector in Scotland and
the comprehensive water abstraction regime proposed in the
Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Bill.
Irrigation is central to maintaining yields, price, and
quality of the potato crop.
The research indicates that except in very dry years
irrigation abstractions do not cause major environmental
problems other than in certain areas in the East of the
country where some catchments may be over-utilised even in
relatively wet years.
The research -
Evaluating the Economic Impact of Irrigation Controls,
suggests that irrigation controls would mean that farms in
typical catchments would experience reductions in gross
margins of between 0.5% to 11% depending on weather
conditions and potato prices. However, farms in water
stressed sub-catchments would experience more severe
effects from the restrictions necessary to achieve
environmentally acceptable flow.
This research was conducted by the Macaulay Land Use
Research Institute with the Cambridge University Farm
Potato Agronomy Unit.
The
Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Bill
commits Ministers to extensive consultation on the
regulatory regime that will be introduced to control water
abstraction.
The Bill was introduced to the Parliament on 18 June and
it's progress can be monitored on the
Scottish Parliament website.