Can We Nudge Farmers Into Saving Water? Evidence from a randomized experiment.

Summary We test whether social comparison nudges can promote water-saving behavior among farmers as a complement to traditional CAP measures. We conducted a Randomized Controlled Trial among 200 farmers equipped with irrigation smart meters in SouthWest France. Treated farmers received weekly information on individual and group water consumption over four months. Our results rule out medium to large effect-sizes of the nudge. They moreover suggest that the nudge was effective at reducing the consumption of those who irrigate the most, although it appears to have reduced the proportion of those who do not consume water at all.