A Nationally Important Experiment

The Welland Rivers Trust - Water Friendly Farming

Flooding is at the forefront of many people's minds after the past two winters. Last winter was the wettest since records began. We have also had more than our fair share of warm summer weather in recent years and the average temperature for central England in the past decade has been consistently higher than the long-term average. Exceptions seem to be becoming the norm!



The Upper Eye Brook is one of the three agricultural headwater catchments involved in the Water Friendly Farming Project.

It is not just flooding that results from lots of rain. Even moderate rainfall results in soil and nutrients washing from fields into streams, clogging up ditches, reducing the quality of the water that is pumped into Rutland Water for our drinking water supply. In addition to this of course, soil is an important resource that needs to be kept in fields to support the production of our food, not just for us, but for the next generation and beyond. It is the most fundamental asset of any farm business.

 

But what can be done? In the home, and when travelling, we can all do our bit to reduce the use of fossil fuels and the associated greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

We aim to improve food production while also reducing its impact on water supplies.

 

As a result of research carried out by the Allerton Project at Loddington, and by other research organisations elsewhere, we also now have a suite of land management options at our disposal to apply on farmland to reduce the movement of soil and nutrients to water. What we don't know is how much improvement there would be if we applied these in combination at the landscape scale across several farms. So, in a nationally important experiment, that is what we are doing. The project will be a valuable reality check for researchers, farmers and policy makers alike.

 

 

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