Univ. Cordoba: We have selected two of the main River Basins, one in the South (Gualdalquivir Valley) and other in the North of the country (Duero Basin). The reason of this decision-making is that Spain has a wide territory and the climatic conditions in the North and the South of the country are different and therefore the crops grown, the dates for seedtime, harvest, etc., are not the same.
In both areas are grown most of representative irrigated crops in Spain. As River Basins are very big, we have elected a sample of several smaller irrigated areas inside of both basins: Irrigators Associations.
Univ. Valladolid: A case study is the Duero Valley (Northern Spain), as a representative area featured by continental, extensive and low value-added crops. In order define representative farm-types we have selected 7 specific irrigated areas, and within each area we have implemented a cluster technique. Finally we have obtained 22 different farm-types.
Univ. Bologna: The objective is to define representative areas intended as agricultural systems not necessarily corresponding to administrative units. Given the availability of data organised according to administrative areas, we use regions as a first proxy for identifying such areas. In a further step, relevant irrigation farming systems are identified more in detail while selecting representative farms. Finally, we have selected 5 farming system: cereals, rice, fruit, vegetables and citrus. Within each area, representative farm typology (11 altogether) has been identified.
Univ. Evora: A huge diversity of situations exists in the Portuguese irrigated agriculture. Therefore, the selection of the study areas has been oriented by the search of representative irrigated regions, while seeking to properly capture this diversity. The irrigated agriculture in these areas is further disaggregated and analysed in irrigation sub-sectors, differentiated in what concerns types of crops and farming area. In the case of Baixo Alentejo these sub-sectors consider a Vegetables typology, a General Agriculture typology and an Extensive Farming typology. In the Leziria do Tejo region were only considered to be relevant two typologies. For Baixo Mondego just one typology is sufficient to characterize the main agricultural system of this region.
Univ. Thessaloniki: In most regions of Greece no specific connection between geographic region, irrigation technology and type of crop can be drawn and for most crops, all types of irrigation systems can be found. Both groundwater and surface water sources are used and, in some cases, a small proportion of water is drawn from springs.
We selected 3 specific irrigated areas of Greece with different irrigation characteristics which represent 3 from the most common agricultural systems. The first belongs to the "Region of Central Macedonia" in Northern Greece, the second to the "Region of Thessalia" in Central Greece and the third to the "Region of East Macedonia and Thrace" in North Eastern Greece. In case of Central Macedonia, we selected an irrigated area belonging to the Prefecture of Pella, which represents a fruit tree cultivation system. Most irrigation in this area is by furrow and sprinklers and is based 48.5% on gravity and 51.5% on pressure. Main crops are cotton, sugar beets and trees (peaches, apples and pears). The irrigated area in Region of Thessalia is in the Prefecture of Larissa, which represents an agricultural system with high productivity. There are arable crops with cotton as basis. In this area farmers use modern irrigation systems such as sprinklers and drips irrigation under pressurized pumped water from the "Pinios" river. Finally, in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, we selected an irrigated area belonging to the Prefecture of Xanthi, which represents a common agricultural system. In this area main crops are arable crops with tobacco as basis. The most irrigation is by sprinklers and is based on pressure.
Univ. Cranfield: A national survey of 2400 irrigators, farmer interviews and discussions with key informants helped define five representative systems, namely: specialist potato farms, potato and vegetable farms, potato and sugar farms, vegetable and horticultural farms, and soft fruit farms. Irrigation is typically part of mixed rainfed and irrigated farming systems. Potatoes alone account for over half the irrigated area and irrigation water in E&W, with vegetable production accounting for about a further 25%. Quality assurance is generally more important than incremental yield. 80% of the irrigated area occurs on 30% of the irrigating farms, showing a tendency towards larger farms.