This document presents the Action Plan for the digitalisation of irrigation in Catalonia. The plan, presented in Barcelona on 22 June 2026 before the Grup de Treball de l’Aigua, establishes a concrete roadmap with strategic and operational objectives and a set of actions aimed at positioning Catalonia as a reference in intelligent irrigation management, while also serving as a model for other regions in the SUDOE space facing similar challenges.
Strategic objectives
The plan establishes five strategic objectives that guide the entire intervention. Firstly, it seeks to increase efficiency in the use of resources, particularly water and energy destined for irrigation. Secondly, it aims to improve the resilience of irrigation systems in the face of increasingly frequent drought episodes. It also seeks to strengthen the sustainability and viability of agricultural holdings and the irrigation communities that manage them. Another key objective is to increase technical expertise, knowledge and transparency in irrigation management, while the fifth objective focuses on improving control over the infrastructure used for irrigation.
Operational objectives and actions
To make these strategic objectives a reality, the plan defines six operational objectives that set out the roadmap. These involve incorporating irrigation digitalisation into the Government’s political agenda, promoting regulatory adaptations and incentive measures, establishing quality protocols and standards, fostering the existence of technical and technological reference points, improving environmental conditions for the implementation of digitalisation and, finally, promoting communication, training, innovation and knowledge transfer activities.
Based on these objectives, 22 concrete actions are proposed, ranging from incorporating digitalisation into the political agenda to modernising traditional irrigation systems, including the creation of specific grants, prioritising projects with digital improvements, adapting farmers’ contribution percentages, and promoting tax incentives. Measures are also included to define digitalisation standards, establish open data protocols, create an official ‘irrigation sustainability’ label, promote farmer advisory services, improve digital connectivity in rural areas, and promote pilot and demonstration projects. Together, these actions aim to create a favourable ecosystem for the digital transformation of irrigation in Catalonia.
Download action plan (in Spanish): 20260728_Plan de Acción Catalunya (SGW)_ES
