Pilot study on estimating the volume of water for irrigation in Norway

The regulation EC 1166/2008 on Farm Structure Surveys (FSS) and the survey on agricultural production methods foresees that a new survey on agricultural production methods (SAPM) will be carried out, linked to the data obtained from the farm structure survey in 2010. Norway, represented by Statistics Norway, will be obliged by the regulation to provide figures on volumes for irrigation at the individual agricultural holding-level. In this project, the objective has been to develop a model for calculating volumes of irrigation practices based on existing, geo-referenced data, and without introducing any new reporting obligations. The data employed encompass precipitation, evaporation, soil texture, cultivated land, crops and specific information on growth periods and irrigation requirements for each crop type. Statistics Norway is responsible for the project and the report. As stated in the project application, the Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (Bioforsk) has acted as an associated third party in the project. In the first phase of the project, Bioforsk has designed estimates of irrigation requirements for a range of agricultural crops in regions of Norway where irrigation is currently practiced. Statistics Norway used these estimates as coefficients for irrigation requirements in the second phase of the pilot study. The output from the pilot study is an applicable methodology, calculated figures on irrigation for agricultural holdings in four case municipalities (presented in Appendix I.) and aggregated figures on irrigation volumes for four counties (presented in chapter 3).