Live from the regions – Vine irrigation in the former Languedoc-Roussillon region: production potential maintained through water savings

Abstract

In a context of recurring water deficits, rational irrigation of vineyards has been put forward as an appropriate solution to stabilise production (in terms of volume and quality) and to maintain the production tool sustainably. In the Languedoc-Roussillon winegrowing basin, the largest in France, two public aid schemes financed by the European Union have been in place since 2007 to encourage irrigation operators to adopt better practices. The first has led to the installation of an efficient drip irrigation system on more than 23,700 hectares of vines. The second, encouraging farmers to modernise their network, has generated water savings that have been redistributed partly to the water environment and the rest to the creation of new water systems.