Working to protect the water environment at Kirby Cane

WSF advisers have recently worked with a farmer in the Yare river catchment, who was keen to implement on-farm measures to address the risk of soil and water movement across the farm, especially during sugar beet growing, and limit any related pollution.

Facilitated by the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group for Norfolk (Norfolk FWAG) – who had been developing a Stewardship plan at the farm – WSF advisers were put in touch with the farmer to conduct a farm walkover and look at options to further complement the plan and maximise impact from a water quality perspective.

As a result, the farmer has put some practical interventions in place, with the support and guidance of the WSF advisers. These include:

• The installation of two field corner sediment traps with bunding;
• The construction of cross ramps on a long, sloping farm track to divert surface erosion into the sediment traps; and
• The creation of six in-ditch traps with ‘leaky dams’ to capture sediment and reduce the flow velocity of the ditching system itself.

In-ditch sediment trap with leaky dam

Track cross drain