Farm Pollution advice in the Helford Catchment

As a Farm Conservation Adviser with FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group), I am used to working with farmers from all over West Cornwall. What is so nice about the Cycleau Project on the Helford is that I get the chance to work in one river catchment with one group of farmers. My role within the Cycleau Project is to visit farmers across the Helford Catchment, to look at their farm business with them and ascertain whether there is anything else that they could be doing to minimise diffuse pollution.

Farm pollution comes from a variety of sources - soil particles carrying phosphate; surface runoff following applications of manure, slurry, or dirty water; or from leaching of nitrate through the soil. The problems for the farmer are complex and finding a solution is usually a case of looking at technical issues such as soil fertility levels and soil structural problems, combined with finding economic help from Government environmental grant schemes. The types of solution can vary from leaving buffer strips alongside watercourses to increasing storage for slurry on dairy farms so that the farmer can avoid spreading at the most vulnerable times of the year.

Specifically under Cycleau on the Helford, there is a pot of funding available for capital changes to farms that will help with reducing diffuse pollution and protecting watercourses. Several grants have been agreed, including fencing streams to prevent livestock access, moving gateways to prevent soil washing into watercourses, and increasing slurry storage on a dairy farm. Although small scale and localised, such changes can positively impact on water quality in tributaries, as well as helping us understand the value of such a grant scheme. In addition to the capital grant, Cycleau is providing funding to enable me to carry out a few soil samples on the most intensive farms, as well as analysis of slurry and manure. Used in conjunction with each other, these figures enable the farmer to more accurately quantify the amount of fertiliser being applied through livestock manures, enabling him or her to pare down artificial fertiliser applications to the minimum required for crop growth.

I have so far had a very warm welcome from all of the farmers I have visited and look forward to seeing many more over the next few months. If any farmers in the catchment would like a visit, please feel free to give me a call.

Annabel Keast

Please do not hesitate to contact Sangeeta Taylor, Cycleau Facilitator – Fal & Helford staylor1@cornwall.gov.uk Mobile – 07973 813557 or Annabel Keast, FWAG office 01872 224005

Extract from HVMCA newsletter No.31 Autumn 2005