Informal Cooperation in the Commons? Evidence from a Survey of Australian Farmers Facing Irrigation Salinity

The causes of agriculture-related conflicts over environmental goods are typically diffuse, making their governance costly compared with point-source conflicts (Wills, 1997). Over the last couple of decades, moreover, there has been a noticeable acceleration in the onset of these ‘agri-environmental’ conflicts as more and more of the environmental goods relied upon by agriculture have become fully committed (Reeve, in press). As this transition from a ‘frontier’ into a ‘mature’ agricultural economy proceeds, the need for agri-environmental governance can be expected to continue to accelerate (Syme, 1993).