Agricultural Flood Damage Assessment: A Systematic Review of Methods, Coverage, and Integration Gaps

Abstract. Agricultural flooding causes tens of billions of dollars in annual losses globally, yet the methods used to assess these losses systematically capture only a fraction of their true economic scope. This systematic review synthesizes 65 peer-reviewed studies published between 1984 and 2025 to evaluate how agricultural flood damage is measured, what damage categories are covered, and where critical methodological gaps persist. We find a structural asymmetry across the reviewed literature – all 65 reviewed studies address direct immediate damages – primarily crop yield loss estimated through depth-damage functions or remote sensing – while direct induced effects appear in only 8 studies, indirect damages in 9, and intangible damages in fewer than 5. This asymmetry has persisted for four decades, through a major remote sensing revolution, because the dominant methods are structurally incapable of measuring damage categories beyond direct immediate losses. We introduce a Methods-by-Damage-Category Matrix that maps eight assessment methods against five damage categories, making the coverage gap visible and providing a diagnostic framework for method selection. Three post-2013 damage frontiers – long-term land productivity degradation, supply chain finance disruption, and farmer mental health – are identified as emerging categories warranting dedicated methodological development. Existing agricultural flood damage estimates used in benefit–cost analyses and disaster compensation are systematically downward-biased; closing this bias requires integrating remote sensing-based physical detection with economic valuation methods capable of capturing the full damage taxonomy.