Doctoral Dissertation Research: Access Regimes and Irrigation Technology: Where Does the Water "Soft Path" for Agriculture Lead?

由于需求增加而供应减少，半干旱环境中的农业越来越多地采用节水技术和政策。 这些设备的推出与水政策中倡导“水软路径”（WSP）的更广泛趋势有关，即为环境和社会可持续性使用灵活的技术和需求管理政策。 该项目调查了WSP的推出、WSP的采用以及农村社区的社会经济成果。尽管水资源项目得到了广泛的倡导和实施，但目前对水资源项目的进程和成果的研究很少，因为它涉及到用户获得水资源的问题，特别是农村地区的农业生产。该项目有助于研究和教育的整合，因为研究人员将与水管理人员共享数据和结果。 它促进了培训和学习，因为该项目的数据将纳入一所国际文凭认证中学的本科课程和地理课程的学习单元。 此外，该项目还培训了一名博士生进行数据收集、分析和科学推广。该研究调查了水软路径如何创造获取和使用水资源的新途径，从而有助于农村社会和政治变革的更大进程。 这项研究的工作假设是，灌溉效率的设备和支持他们的制度框架提供了新的途径，一些农民获得水资源的农业生产。本项目通过对墨西哥中部瓜纳华托州水软路径的实证案例研究来解决主要的研究问题，瓜纳华托是美国的主要农业出口国。研究设计采用可重复的混合方法，包括访谈，参与者观察，问卷调查和调查。该项目将：（1）描述水资源项目是如何响应科学和区域性水资源短缺的讨论而出现的;（2）研究农村获得灌溉效率设备并从中受益所需的机制;（3）解释灌溉效率设备如何为农民提供应对水资源短缺和在气候变化条件下继续耕种土地的机会。

Water conservation technologies and policies are increasingly adopted for agriculture in semi-arid environments as demand increases while supplies dwindle. The roll-out of these devices is tied to a broader trend in water policy that advocates a "water soft path" (WSP), or the use of flexible technologies and demand-management policies for environmental and social sustainability. This project investigates the roll-out of this WSP, the adoption of WSP, and socio-economic outcomes for rural communities. Although WSP has been advocated and implemented widely, there is little existing research on the processes and outcomes of WSP projects as it relates to user access to water resources, particularly for agricultural production in rural areas. This project contributes to research and education integration because the researchers will share data and results with water managers. It promotes training and learning, as data from the project will roll into learning modules for undergraduate courses and geography courses at an international baccalaureate certified secondary school. Furthermore, the project trains a doctoral student in data collection, analysis, and scientific outreach.This research investigates how the water soft path creates new pathways of accessing and using water resources that contribute to larger processes of social and political change in the countryside. The working hypothesis for this research is that irrigation-efficiency devices and the institutional framework supporting them provide new pathways for some farmers to access to water resources for agricultural production. This project addresses the major research question through an empirical case study of water-soft path in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, a major agricultural exporter to the United States. The research design uses a reproducible mixed-method approach, including interviews, participant observation, questionnaires, and surveys. This project will: (1) Describe how WSP emerged in response to scientific and regional discourses of water scarcity; (2) Examine the mechanisms required to gain access to and benefit from irrigation efficiency devices in the countryside; and (3) Explain how irrigation efficiency devices offer farmers opportunities to respond to water scarcity and continue cultivating land under conditions of climate change.