Conflicting implementation of agricultural and water policies in irrigated areas in the EU

Irrigated agriculture is directly influenced by various EU policies, especially the CAP and more recently the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The demand for water by agriculture is largely determined by CAP policy. On the other hand, the objective of the WFD is to regulate the supply (cost, quality, quantity) of water to agriculture. This work examines the relationships between these two policy instruments and applies a scenario analysis to a case study in central Spain using a multi-criteria model of farmer behaviour. The results' show that the two instruments must be co-ordinated in order to meet socio-economic goals (farmers' income and labour demand) and environmental protection (water-use efficiency).