Adding the Farmer Domain to Aquifer Recharge: Insights From Smallholder Farmers' Natural Water Retention Measures in the Danube–Tisza Interfluve, Hungary

ABSTRACT

This paper describes and analyzes recharge practices in Bács‐Kiskun County, Hungary, within what can be categorized as the farmer domain. Such locally embedded aquifer recharge practices remain underexplored in Hungary. Current research and funding largely focus on large‐scale Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) interventions emphasizing intended recharge. This study uses qualitative methods, combining field observations, in‐depth and semi‐structured interviews, and document analysis carried out from March 2024 to December 2024. Sixteen interviews were carried out with key stakeholders and smallholder farmers involved in MAR implementation projects at the local or national level. Through a process‐based approach, we develop an analytical model that conceptualizes the farmer domain in terms of infrastructure, organization, finance, and implementation context. The findings show that smallholder farmers have developed locally grounded natural water retention practices, such as sandbags, earth embankments, sandpits, check dams, built using local materials and labor to mimic natural processes and utilize soil depressions, and inoperative canals. We argue that such recharge practices in the farmer domain may have considerable beneficial effects on water availability but have been overlooked and receive limited financial, legal, and institutional support. This study contributes to a broader theoretical shift already emerging within MAR literature toward incorporating small‐scale recharge into research and implementation, informing policymakers, practitioners, and MAR experts and contributing to more nuanced MAR debates. However, integrating the farmer domain into aquifer recharge governance requires shifts in how knowledge is produced, supported, funded, and institutionalized. We therefore call for further research that bridges disciplinary boundaries.