Farmer uptake of drainage benefits a regional study

The commitment of public funds to land drainage improvement such as river flood alleviation and improved arterial systems, has been an important component of agricultural support in Britain. The economic performance of these investments depends on whether private farmers actually exploit the potential benefits afforded. Pre-investment appraisals of agricultural land drainage schemes have been criticised for their arbitrary and optimistic predictions of benefit uptake whilst the great variation in benefit uptake between schemes and farmers has hitherto remained unexplained. More recently, in the face of changes in agricultural policy, pressure on public funds, and competition from other land users, there has been a call for a more consistent and objective method for evaluating public sector land drainage investments (HMSO, 1995).