I am an Irrigators Community

Irrigators: there are more than 15 million ha of irrigated land in Europe, mainly in the Mediterranean area. This includes more than 500,000 farms of different sizes and types that rely on irrigation to produce their crops. In fact, in Mediterranean countries, more than 60% of agrarian income depends on irrigation. Most of the irrigation infrastructure is managed by organizations whose size varies from a few dozen farms to thousands of members grouped into cooperatives or irrigator communities.

The cost of energy for pumping the water is the single most important cost for irrigators (up to 40% of total costs)[1], so they are highly interested in any technical solution that can reduce this factor, especially due to the need to introduce water-efficiency systems that are energy intensive. Nevertheless, the sector’s capacity to invest in innovative technologies, that require important up-front cost and whose return is perceived as uncertain as is the case of PVI nowadays, is limited.