Sandra Manning-Jones Catchment Sensitive Farming Tom Edwards and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Western Rother Sediment Study Catchment Sensitive Farming Tom Edwards and Sammy Read Arun and Rother Rivers Trust Sandra Manning-Jones

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Agenda

10:30 Introduction to the CSF and ARRT sediment project- including details of support available to farmers through CSF, CS, Southern Water Capital Grant Scheme. 10:50 Dr Robert Simmons: Use of filter socks as a method of sediment capture and reduction of chemicals and nutrients in subsequent run off. 11:30 David Miller: Conservation Agriculture farmer, discuss ways to improve soil health such as min/zero till, cover crops. 12:10 Tea break. 12:20 Farming Rules for Water (delivered by CSF), including a particular focus on rules around soil erosion. 12:40 Lunch and stalls providing information on support available to farmers from South Downs National Park, Southern Water, CSF, Rother Valley Farmers Group. 14:00 Optional farm walk to see a type of sediment mitigation measure funded by the project; filter sock. 15:00 Finish.

• Rother Valley – one of the most erodible catchments in the UK.
• Sandy river valley – easily eroded by rain, wind and drought.
• Not a new issue – but problems increasing.
• Wide range of impacts on local area – particularly the River Rother.

➢Fish spawning and river habitats. ➢Raising bed levels – river channel and ponds. ➢Blockages. ➢Loss of bankside trees – rivershade and cover.

• Lots of background academic research.

Rother Valley, West Sussex

• 1840s tithe map

– digitised by University of Portsmouth.

• Floodplain

entirely hay meadows.

• Higher

percentage of arable than today.

• Less intensively

managed woodland.

Gully in winter wheat Ephemeral gully Sandy soil erosion

Soil erosion in the Western Rother

Since 1850, 84% of fertile topsoil has been eroded and continuing at a rate of 1-3cm every year Soil degradation due to compaction, loss of

• rganic matter and

erosion is estimated to cost over a billion pounds every year across England and Wales

Sediment Trap Filter fence Check dam Soil bund Filter sock

Run-off attenuation features

Debris Dam

Existing sediment measures in the Western Rother

• Organic Matter / worm counts / soil assessment
• Cultivation techniques – tillage / cross slope contours /

timing / machinery

• Crop types, inter-cropping and rotations
• Integrate livestock
• Irrigation and drainage

Thinking about soil health

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Soil and water options:

• 4-6m buffer strips
• Infield grass strips
• 12-24m watercourse buffer strip on

cultivated land

• Winter cover crops
• Arable reversion to grassland with low

fertiliser input

• Riparian management strip

Arable options:

• Beetle banks
• Flower-rich margins
• Unharvested cereal headlands
• Two year sown legume fallow

Woodland and scrub options

• Woodland edges on arable land (enhance buffer between

woodland and field by allowing development of scrub)

• Wetland options
• Buffering in-field ponds and ditches in improved grassland
• Buffering in-field ponds and ditches in arable land
• Management of ditches of high environmental value

Countryside Stewardship Options for mitigating soil loss

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• Gateway relocation
• Sediment ponds and traps
• Earth banks and soil bunds
• Silt filtration dams/seepage barriers
• Swales
• Check dams
• Boundary capital items
• Hedgerow gapping
• Planting new hedges

Countryside Stewardship Capital Items for mitigating soil loss

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• CSF farming review
• Farm infrastructure audit
• Farm machinery testing &

calibration

• Soil & nutrient management

plans

• Soil & manure sampling
• Soil husbandry
• Slurry/manure handling and

storage

• Maximising CS opportunities through

CSF

• Pesticide handling and application
• Bio-bed and pesticide facilities design
• Water management plans
• Water holding structure design and

management

• On farm review of pathways for sources
• f faecal contamination of water course
• Conserving nitrogen through ammonia

emissions and run-off

Farm Advice Framework Specialist 1:1 on-farm advice

Guidance for the Rother Valley now available

Sediment Project Deliverers: ARRT and CSF

The aim: To construct and demonstrate different types of mitigation measures for sediment loss

These measures will be monitored to establish a benchmark and guidance for farmers in the Rother Valley as to which method can most effective to reduce sediment in surface water runoff.

AHDB dairy and CSF Ammonia event in the Ouse catchment 8th May Groundswell: Conservation Agriculture 26th – 27th June Lannock Manor Farm, Hertfordshire

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