Defra doubles funding for farmers to tackle water pollution

Defra has doubled funding for the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme, which supports farmers to tackle water pollution and improve water management.

The Department has set a new annual budget of £30m for the next three years, up from £16.6m in 2020/21. This will be used to fund more Natural England advisers to help farmers implement practical solutions to reduce pollution, including planting new grassland buffer strips to improve drainage, establishing river side trees to reduce run off into rivers and using better slurry storage facilities to avoid accidental spillage. The advisors will also help farmers apply for grants to invest in new equipment and technology, such as precision farming tools that reduce the use of fertilisers and better protect the soil.

Defra said the extra money will enable the scheme to grow from covering the current 40% of England’s farmland to 100% by March 2023.

In addition, Defra announced it will allocate the Environment Agency £1.2m to significantly increase the number of inspectors visiting farmers to reduce diffuse water pollution, with 50 additional full time employees recruited for inspections.

Over the last 15 years, the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme has helped farmers tackle pollution which results from manure, fertiliser and soil running off into rivers when it rains. The programme is a partnership between Defra, Natural England and the Environment Agency and provides free one-to-one advice to farmers.

• Last week, Defra updated information for farmers taking part in the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot on measuring water body buffers – strips of grassland planted next to water to improve water quality by slowing the flow of surface runoff and trapping pollutants from agriculture.