Safeguarding water for food production in the Fens will be under discussion when the NFU meets senior Environment Agency officials today.
The agency’s head of water, Ian Barker, and food and farming manager Andy Turner are visiting the region as concerns grow about potential water shortages next year due to the on-going drought.
The NFU is taking them to two farm businesses that grow irrigated salad and vegetable crops, as well as arranging meetings with farmers and representatives of the Internal Drainage Boards that manage water levels in the Fens.
The visits coincide with the publication of a new EA Drought Prospects report which highlights low groundwater levels in the East of England. Many river flows are exceptionally low and the agency is warning that, at this early stage, the prospects for spray irrigation are classified as ‘poor’, with the possibility of abstraction restrictions. Read the report here.
NFU senior policy adviser Paul Hammett said: “Annual rainfall levels are the lowest they’ve been for 90 years in the East of England so we need to be thinking now about how best to manage scarce water resources in 2012.
“We want to show the Environment Agency how important food production is in the Fens, to demonstrate its dependence on water level management and to highlight the steps farmers are taking to conserve water supplies.
“During the day we will discuss the lessons learnt from this year’s drought, irrigation prospects for next year, and how farmers and the agency can work together to make the most of supplies.”
The Environment Agency wants all water abstractors, including farmers and businesses, to look for ways to share and make the best use of limited water resources such as setting up a water abstractor group, water audits and implementing measures to improve water efficiency.
Responding to the Drought Prospects report, NFU water adviser Jenny Bashford said: “This comes as no surprise.
“Farmers and growers in East Anglia have worked well with the EA and others such as the IDBs to make the best use of available water resources. We encourage the continuation of this constructive relationship and would also ask the agency to bear in mind the important economic contribution food and farming makes to the economy.
“Every effort should be made to ensure adequate supplies are made available to the sector wherever possible.”
- Water-Value - 01/12/2011
After the driest sping in over a century and the warmest autumn. The Environment Agency must consider how a new UK 'Water Grid' will deliver real benefits to farmers in the South East. If this government is serious about UK food security they must make water some provision for farmers. We have many rivers to cross!