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Nitrate, a residual of intensive potato farming systems and a diffused contaminant, has contributed to the degradation of groundwater and surface water quality in Prince Edward Island causing ecologically destructive eutrophication in estuaries and residential groundwater wells exceeding Health Canada’s drinking water standard. The economic–hydrologic optimization model estimates the groundwater nitrate leachate marginal abatement costs resulting from the adoption of non-traditional beneficial management practices within potato farming systems with spatial heterogeneity. Prospect potato variety adoption is cost-effective in nitrate leachate abatement with a marginal abatement cost of $47 per kg NO3--N. However, at greater nitrate abatement targets marginal abatement costs are heterogeneous between producers, which illuminate the value of tailoring incentive instruments to recognize heterogeneity. This research output supports holistic approaches to estimate nitrate leachate abatement targets by integrating economic and hydrogeological modelling to improve groundwater quality. Canadian Water Network (CWN); Water Economics, Policy and Governance Network (WEPGN); Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph.