Even one of the wettest summers on record has not deterred the NFU from launching a report to show how farmers are working to conserve one of nature's most precious resources – water.
Water Matters reveals how farmers are spending more than £3.3 million pounds on extra water efficiency measures and how NFU members are adapting to the changing and extreme weather conditions which this year saw acres of the countryside under water - a sharp contrast to the droughts only a year earlier.
The report is the result of a national survey, which saw 1,500 farmers and growers detail where and how they are saving water in the context of last year's low rainfall and dry summer. These include:
· Rainwater harvesting
· Insulating pipes, employing leak detection systems and closing unused pipes in the winter
· And using techniques such as trickle irrigation
The report features four case studies, some of which were commended in this year's Water Efficiency awards, with details of how their on-farm innovation is conserving and saving one of their most value natural commodities – as well as saving them money.
NFU President Peter Kendall said: "With recurrent droughts in the south east, and despite this year's dreadfully wet summer, water is going be increasingly important to the farming industry and its potential to supply the nation with a fresh and secure food supply.
"Hence this survey into how our members use water, what they are doing to conserve it and how they expect they will be affected by climate change – and, as the impressive response shows, water availability is a real area of concern to farmers."
The NFU is looking to Government to support additional localised reservoirs to store water during times of heavy flow, such as we've seen this summer, as well as review its current drainage and river management policies. In the light of climate change the NFU is calling for more awareness into what produce the UK imports from water-scarce areas of the world which could have been grown from a rain-fed or partly irrigated alternative at home.
