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Farmers urged to bid for £10,000 funding
South East Water is urging farmers and landowners to apply for up to £10,000 of Capital Grant Scheme funding to help minimise the risk of water contamination and improve the sustainability of their businesses.
Al Stewart, surface water lead at South East Water, explained why the water company worked closely with farmers and landowners in priority catchments to stop soil, fertiliser and pesticides washing into rivers and groundwater sources from which drinking water is abstracted.
“It’s extremely expensive for us to remove these substances during the water treatment process,” he said. “Prevention is best, and our catchment management programme supports farmers and landowners to make changes that will help reduce the risk of contaminants entering water sources in the first place.
“We want to provide farmers and landowners with support that not only benefits our own objectives, but that of their businesses too. We understand that agriculture and horticulture are going through a period of significant change and appreciate that this uncertainty is unsettling for many farmers across the UK. However, the need to become more efficient and more sustainable has never been greater.”
Highlighting the support available from South East Water, Mr Stewart said a large part of the offering was around providing free, one-to-one confidential advice on topics such as yard infrastructure, pesticide handling or rainwater harvesting.
He went on: “These options can be supported with the funding available through the Capital Grant Scheme, which offers up to £10,000 per farm business, per year, for physical ‘nuts-and-bolts’ options such as concreting, roofing, pesticide handling facilities and precision farming equipment. The scheme also supports land management options, such as cover cropping and maize management.
“Besides these options, we’re always open to hear new ideas and approaches that support our work, particularly from farmers. The scheme is very flexible to suit the variety of businesses we work with.” One farmer who has benefitted from the support of South East Water funding is Kent fruit grower Nick Overy, who farms in the Teise catchment area. Nick and father Ian grow 50 hectares of blackcurrants and 10 hectares of Gala apples while also contracting out 100 hectares of arable land.
“We were made aware of the Capital Grant Scheme funding through Catchment Sensitive Farming, which put us in touch with Al Stewart last year,” said Mr Overy.
“Al came out to the farm to identify the areas that South East Water would be able to support and see if we would qualify for the available funding. He told us we were eligible for a grant of up to £10,000 to improve the spraying facilities on farm.
“We have used the funding to build an entire spray bund, including a 1,000litre underground tank, a biofilter and a chemical store container. “Any run-off goes into the underground tank, through the biofilter and is then irrigated outside, meaning any chemical spillage is treated by the biofilter, before being piped into an adjacent grassed area.
“These improvements have helped us comply with the Red Tractor and LEAF audits that take place on farm, which we do as part of our contract with Tesco. It also brings us peace of mind knowing that our pesticides aren’t contributing to any water contamination.”
