Wilkin & Sons are growers of over 20 types of soft fruit and top fruit, grown for the fresh market and processed on site into Wilkin & Sons, Tiptree jams and conserves.
Joint managing director at Tiptree, Chris Newenham, hosted the Defra group on behalf of the company and the NFU.
“We grow 200 acres of fruit and key long term concerns for our farm relate to availability of water and labour, and maintaining our soil quality," he said. "With our annual rainfall averaging around 500mm, we are farming in the driest county in England and we take our irrigation practices very seriously."
Andrey Ivanov, general manager of Tiptree’s farms, explained that considerable effort has been invested into water management throughout the business.
All irrigated water is applied through trickle and drip systems using a range of water sources from field drains (abstracted just before the freshwater reaches the nearby sea wall) and rainwater collection. An integrated network of farm reservoirs has been built over the past 20 years, and the latest design in poly-tunnels is gradually being introduced onto the site so that practically all water is re-used.
The event proved to be useful for NFU-Defra discussion on a range of policy and regulatory issues relevant for future water use at Tiptree including:
- New authorisations and licensing requirements for trickle irrigation
- Defra’s emerging proposals for a water abstraction plan
- Defra plans to transfer all abstraction licences into the Environmental Permitting Regulations
- The NFU’s call for water for food production to be recognised as an essential water use.
Paul Hammett, NFU water specialist, said that the Defra visit had given the farming sector a useful opportunity to state its case.
“While Defra’s water team naturally focuses its attention on public water supply, there is a growing recognition that if water companies improve their performance this can relieve some of the pressures currently faced by the environment and agriculture," he said.
Mr Hammett also stressed the need to ensure farm businesses that wanted to increase food production, including Wilkin & Sons, could access the water required to do so. Lack of water availability could also prevent newcomers establishing themselves in the industry.
“We have to find a way of helping businesses that want to grow but will be capped with the water they can use because of new legislation,” he added.