In 2018, Defra introduced the ‘Farming Rules for Water’ – new regulations designed to protect water environments and help farm businesses save money and improve resilience. There are eight rules that farms must follow, requiring farmers and landowners to:
We found that many farmers in the area were unclear on what some of the rules meant in practice. In response to this feedback we established a project to work with farmers on a one-to-one basis to improve awareness of the rules.
The project employs a Catchment Based Approach, enabling us to collaborate and call on the knowledge of other organisations currently working in the catchment, including Catchment Sensitive Farming and the Environment Agency.
By working with farmers to help them better understand and implement the Farming Rules for Water, we aim to
The project launched in late 2019 and, as of July 2021, we have worked with 20 farmers and landowners across the catchment to deliver practical one-to-one support. This has included:
This advice-led approach will continue in the catchment until autumn 2021.
Project Officer assessing a field’s soil structure
Sediment source identified during a walkover survey, and a slurry sample ready to be analysed
The project is funded by Natural Course, an EU funded LIFE Integrated Project. (Project number: LIFE14 IPE/UK/027) and is supported by the Environment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.