Recommendation 18

Technologies that pinpoint the use of water offer much promise to irrigate farms in a more efficient in targeted way, and should be used more widely. While the Water Management Grant can be used to pay for water efficiency projects, this funding will benefit only a very small proportion of farmers in England. The Government must develop a specific policy mechanism to promote and roll out precision irrigation across the UK farming system. In designing and monitoring the uptake of this mechanism, the Government should mitigate against efficiency paradoxes and report on the impact on water usage.