Detail Abstract

Using agent-based simulation to address agricultural water issues

Abstract

In many agricultural regions, the lack of water poses many problems that tend to multiply with climate change. It is therefore important to be able to continue to ensure an important agricultural production while consuming less water. In this presentation, we explore how agent-based simulation can contribute to the reflection on this topic. In particular, two projects aiming at using agent-based simulation to address water issues in agriculture will be presented. The first project, centered on the MAELIA platform, concerns the use of agent-based simulation to evaluate water management alternatives on an agricultural territory. The objective here is to use computer simulation to help in the decision making process, both at the level of the decision-makers and at the level of the farmers themselves to bring them to discuss together possible solutions. The second project concerns the use of agent-based simulation to study the diffusion of agricultural technology and focuses on communicating water meters. The objective here is to better understand what are the barriers to the adoption of such technology and how to help remove them.