The Farming Water Programme
Component 1: Changes to agricultural land management
Background
This sub proposal project is designed to examine the potential for the conversion of intensively managed arable land or temporary grassland to extensively managed permanent grassland. It is believed that the arable reversion option will reduce the rate of run-off by increasing infiltration and the potential water retention capacity of the soil. This will contribute to moderating the flood peaks in the catchment as a whole. It is believed to offer substantial benefits especially when arable reversion is carried out within or around the edge of the floodplain. There is a need to get the information out to the relevant farmers and to assist them in making informed choices on the land use options of their farms.
Objectives
To provide a free advice service to farmers in target areas to encourage arable reversion to grassland.
To demonstrate that water management and environmental benefits are likely in many situations.
To evaluate the implementation costs.
To measure the effectiveness of arable reversion in water management.
The initial proposal for this project was produced by FWAG (with support from the RSPB) and can be found on our publications page.
