Scoping the role of agriculture in sustainable flood management

Sustainable flood management is moving up the policy agenda due to drivers such as climate change, the EU Water Framework Directive and the forthcoming EU floods Directive. At the same time, reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is under way. While there are currently few institutional links between flood risk management and agriculture, there is great potential for agriculture to become part of the solution to flood risk management rather than being part of the problem. A policy delphi study is carried out with an expert panel to investigate potential links, opportunities and barriers to integration in these two areas. The findings reveal that first, government policy needs to be “flood proofed” so that perverse incentives that could lead to increased flooding are avoided. Second, that the provision of accessible and effective advice and education for farmers and farm advisers on flood management is crucial and finally that future agricultural policy needs to offer connectivity both in terms of a comprehensive package of measures to address flood risk and in terms of addressing flood risk at both catchment-wide and single farm scales.