The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) in conjunction with the Rivers Trust and Countryside Services Ltd has received £30,000 from the DAERA Environment Fund for a farm water project this winter.

Speaking at a UFU meeting in Dungannon on Monday, Aileen Lawson from the UFU explained that the funding will be used to train five advisers from Countryside Services Ltd so they are able to provide “independent, non-regulatory advice” to farmers. A farm water training course will also be developed for farmers.

“We see this as phase one of our involvement in this area,” said Lawson, who added that the next stage will be to work out how best to utilise the advisers on local farms.

Model

The principle of offering non-regulatory advice on water quality to farmers is already firmly established in the Sustainable Catchment Programme (SCP) offered by the Rivers Trust.

The project was developed in 2021 initially in the Upper Bann and Ballinderry river catchments, but has expanded since then.

A water environment management plan is developed for each participating farm and up to 75% grant funding is available to deliver actions that will improve water quality.

Those actions include fencing off rivers, hedge planting to slow water run-off and improvements in farm yards to separate clean and dirty water. Since 2021 nearly 350 farmers have participated in the project and availed of grant funding of over £2.65m, confirmed Mark Horton from the Rivers Trust.

“We are looking for win-win solutions on farms that benefit both the farmer and the water environment. It is about putting the right measure in the right place, at the right scale. We are working with DAERA to look at other river systems,” Horton told the UFU meeting in Dungannon.