Faced with water scarcity and conflicts over “mega-basins” in France, the Confédération paysanne farmers’ union launched a survey of farms in its network in the Vendée Poitou-Charentes region. Through an online questionnaire completed by around 60 farmers, interviews, and field visits in the region, the survey confirms that small-scale farming is water-efficient.

“Mega-basins” (substitution reservoirs) are large storage basins mainly intended for agricultural irrigation. They are filled in winter by pumping groundwater or surface water to secure summer water supplies during droughts. In the Vendée–Poitou-Charentes area, mega-basins have become the focal point of conflicts over water use: irrigators and the State view them as an adaptation tool, while collectives and associations denounce the appropriation of water resources by a small number of large farms, environmental impacts, and an agricultural model considered excessively water-intensive, with mobilizations that are sometimes highly tense.

The Confédération paysanne initiated this two-year survey to improve its understanding of water management and irrigation within the peasant farming network in France. Very little representative data currently exists on this topic, even though it is essential to describe its main characteristics in order to defend equitable access to water for farmers.

This survey is being conducted at a time when the Duplomb law, proposed in 2025, would provide a legal framework facilitating water appropriation for the benefit of a minority of intensive agricultural operations, to the detriment of equitable resource sharing, ecosystems, and local uses.

The project initially had a national ambition, as each territory faces specific challenges related to water scarcity or abundance. However, due to time constraints, we chose to focus the first phase on the Poitou-Charentes–Vendée region, a territory particularly marked by conflicts around agricultural water use linked to resource scarcity and the implementation of mega-basins.

We first conducted research and analysis of agricultural and hydrological data to develop a profile of irrigated agriculture in the study area. These data were processed and mapped, providing a clear, accessible picture of water use. Unsurprisingly, maize is by far the most represented crop in irrigated surface areas across the five departments concerned (Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres, Vendée, Vienne).

Less water

After a literature review phase and around fifteen semi-structured interviews, a questionnaire was circulated within the network. It included a specific section for non-irrigated farms—widely represented in small farming—as well as a section on agroecological practices implemented to preserve water resources. Among the sixty responses, the most frequent production systems in the network were diversified market gardening and non-irrigated mixed crop–livestock systems.

In both systems, farmers implement numerous agroecological practices that promote sustainable, high-quality water management, often at the cost of additional labor. These practices have been in place for many years on most farms, and farmers affirm their intention to maintain or further develop them.

In market gardening, farm access to water relies on a wide variety of abstraction points (declared or undeclared boreholes, rainwater harvesting, drinking water networks, hillside reservoirs, etc.). This reflects both difficulties in accessing water and a desire to make farms more resilient. In addition, the volumes abstracted appear relatively low compared to reference data. In our sample, the average is 1,240 m³ per hectare per year, compared to 2,500 to 3,000 m³ per hectare per year according to chambers of agriculture.

In mixed crop–livestock systems, the results confirm that the average cropping pattern within the network includes 7% maize and 85% grasslands, compared to a regional average of 13% maize and 29% grasslands. These farms stand out for their high level of feed autonomy; on average, they produce 84% of the feed their livestock consume.

Next steps in the research

The next step would be to deploy the questionnaire in other areas with agricultural characteristics similar to those of the current study area, such as cereal-growing regions (Paris Basin, Beauce, Picardy) or livestock regions (Brittany, Massif Central). In other regions of the country, however, the survey will need to be adapted and modified, as the context is radically different, particularly in Mediterranean territories.

This approach—combining scientific analysis, participatory research, and field-based testimonies—helps strengthen arguments for small-scale farming in favor of collective, equitable, and ecological water management.

Notes

This project is part of the IPA-Global initiative of the Agroecology Fund. IPA-Global (Participatory Research in Agroecology) relies on participatory action research to generate data to support advocacy efforts advancing agroecology as a solution to the climate crisis. 

*Jeanne Servel was recruited for a Master’s-level internship in Water and Agriculture (AgroParisTech Montpellier). Over six months, her work was developed collectively alongside Margaux Girard and François Bausson, facilitators at the Confédération paysanne, a group of around ten farmers engaged in water-related issues, and hydraulic researcher Gilles Belaud.

Context

François Crouigneau, a mixed crop–livestock farmer in the Vienne department, took part in the survey. The family farm covers 110 hectares, including 55 hectares of grasslands and 55 hectares of cereals, to feed 200 goats and 85 young goats. Established on highly draining and drying clay-limestone soils, he had to adapt his cropping system: gradually phasing out maize in favor of less water-demanding cereals (barley, sorghum), increasing grassland areas, and diversifying with adapted legumes or grasses. However, maize remains essential for feeding lactating goats. To address this challenge, François purchases ten tons of organic grain maize each year from a farmer in Châtellerault, whose deep soils do not require irrigation. Thanks to these adaptations, he has succeeded in reducing his farm’s water consumption by four, from 60,000 m³ per year to 15,000 m³.