Farmers have questioned why more money is to be given to the Environment Agency to increase on-farm inspections for water pollution, when there is no clear evidence of an increase in pollution incidents from agriculture and horticulture.
Last week the Government announced that ‘farmers across the country will be given additional support to take action to reduce water and air pollution from their land’ including new funding for the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme, which will see its annual budget increased from £16.6 million to £30 million a year.
However, Defra revealed the funding will be used to ‘provide 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.’
Environment Secretary George Eustice commented, “Catchment Sensitive Farming has been hugely successful in tackling water pollution, giving farmers practical advice tailored to their own land and grants to support the investment in infrastructure that protects watercourses.
“There are currently around 40 per cent of farmers involved in the scheme, but today we are doubling the funding available, and we aim to have every farmer in the country taking part by 2023.”
Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, said, “Over the last 25 years there has been huge progress in enhancing the water environment but there is more to do. The announcements made today will help us continue to engage with farmers to reduce the risk of pollution incidents and work towards cleaner and healthier rivers for all.”