First Milk launches water quality strategy across 700 farms

First Milk is rolling out a new water quality strategy across 700 dairy farms to help protect rivers and target nutrient risks more accurately.

The farmer-owned dairy co-operative will combine nutrient footprinting with satellite mapping to identify where nitrogen and phosphate pressure overlaps with landscape risk.

First Milk said the approach would allow support and intervention to be focused on the fields and catchments where action could have the greatest impact.

Early analysis suggests farms with lower nutrient footprints can achieve similar milk production levels to those with higher footprints, indicating that productivity and stronger water stewardship can go hand in hand.

The strategy comes amid growing national focus on river health, freshwater resilience and more practical approaches to land and water management.

First Milk said the initiative was designed to address a long-standing challenge for the dairy sector: how to measure and manage water quality risks consistently at farm and field level.

The approach draws on two years of nutrient footprinting developed with Farm Carbon Toolkit.

It also uses satellite-led water risk mapping produced by Senus.

Nutrient footprinting tracks the flow of nitrogen and phosphate through a farming system.

This helps identify where nutrients are being used efficiently and where imbalances may create unnecessary environmental pressure.

First Milk said the data would give farmers practical insights to improve both resource use and environmental performance.

The Senus water risk maps assess every field using factors such as slope and proximity to watercourses.

This helps farmers identify where there may be a higher risk of nutrients moving into rivers and streams.

Together, the tools provide a scalable way to identify, prioritise and manage water quality risks across one of the UK dairy sector’s largest on-farm freshwater datasets.

The nutrient footprinting work has also identified different drivers behind potential nutrient imbalances.

First Milk said nitrogen pressure was most closely linked to land use, fertiliser and stocking density, while phosphate pressure was more closely linked to feed use and efficiency.

The strategy builds on measures already included in First Milk’s regenerative farming programme.

These include rotational grazing, maintaining living roots, improving soil structure and fencing watercourses.

First Milk said the approach would also support more targeted collaboration with local partners and community groups working to improve water quality at catchment level.

Ric Cooper, representative of The Cleddau Project in Pembrokeshire, welcomed the initiative.

“We absolutely applaud this pioneering First Milk initiative,” he said.

“There is an old saying that, in order to manage something, you first need to measure it, and farm-level nutrient footprinting has the potential to be a game-changer for river restoration.”

Mr Cooper said catchments such as the Cleddau, where there are high densities of livestock farming, would only be restored to good health if surplus nitrogen and phosphorus losses to water were reduced.

He said nutrient footprinting offered a new way to identify and reduce nutrient pressures, while also helping farmers improve efficiency.

“It is exactly the kind of practical, evidence-led approach needed to improve water quality across our catchments,” he said.

Lee Truelove, head of regenerative farming at First Milk, said protecting water quality was central to the future of regenerative dairy farming.

“The water cycle is as crucial as healthy soil to a regenerative farming system,” he said.

He added that the new approach would give First Milk a clearer picture of where risks were, what was driving them and where action could make the biggest difference.

Mr Truelove said the work would also help build evidence around the real-world environmental outcomes that regenerative dairy farming can deliver.

“Critically, this is not about asking farmers to choose between performance and environmental responsibility,” he said.

“Our data shows that productive dairy farms can also have a lower nutrient footprint.”

Mr Truelove said the approach would enable practical, evidence-led change that protects rivers, strengthens farm resilience and delivers long-term value for farmer members, customers and communities.