South Staffs extends catchment programme

South Staffs Water has extended its catchment management programme to a further 12 focus areas following successful trials and its grant scheme that has reduced nitrates by 50 per cent in five years.

The trial involved undersowing maize with grass to prevent nutrient run-off from bare fields that reaches watercourses, which the water company would otherwise have to remove from drinking supplies.

“For us as a water company maize is a risky crop because it’s so gappy and leaves land exposed over winter,” Nina Yiannoukos-Benton, senior catchment advisor, explained. “We began undersowing it with grass to prove to spring farmers that this works well in the heavy soil found in the region.”

She said the farmers have seen their yields improve as the nutrients and soil structure remain intact, which was important to encourage landowners to alter their crops.

Dairy and mixed farmers rely on maize as an essential part of their feed mix but it is prone to runoff so the trial experimented with undersowing from 2019. The trial at Mycock Farming is entering its third year and the scheme is being extended to other farms as the catchment management zone has grown to 12 new areas.

Since 2020 South Staffs Water has worked with Moores Agricultural Contractors to develop a prototype maize drill to undersow the maize, which will be used again in this year’s trials.

Yiannoukos-Benton said that from a water quality perspective it is better for crops to remain in the ground over winter when the soil is wet to prevent rutting or displacement.

Following five years of catchment management in Blithe, the trial region, Yiannoukos-Benton said there has been a 50 per cent reduction in nitrates and improvements to the farmers’ yields.

Cover crops have also been proven to use up excess nutrients and fertilisers that were added during the growing season. These companion crops can be used for grazing and improving soil quality by building organic matter over time. Experiments are underway for companion cropping with oats and peas mix undersown with grass and clover.

Since the ban on neonicotinoid use on oilseed rape, farmers have found this crop harder to grow and are now looking to alternative break crops and the water company has worked with landowners to trial alternative crops that fit with South Staff’s aim of keeping nutrients out of watercourses and encouraging good soil husbandry.

The company offers a grant scheme for producers in high-risk catchment areas of £150/hectare towards the cost of growing maize that is undersown with grass.

Farmers in the Blithe catchment area can apply for a grant of up to £10,000 towards land management and infrastructural improvements.

The upcoming Agriculture Bill will include an Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) that centres around using “public money for public goods” with farmers incentivised to manage their land in ways that both deliver for food production and also much greater environmental gain.