News | Welsh Dee Trust

End of two projects for Water Wise Farming programme

5 April 2022 by

Our Water Wise Farming programme visits farms and works with them to identify farmyard and soil health improvements. These visits are confidential and where necessary we support farmers with funding to help put into action interventions which reduce pollution, and in many cases save the farm business money or time. March 2022 saw the end of two projects: Woodlands for Water and the Dee Dairy Fund. 

Woodlands for Water

Working in partnership with North Wales Wildlife Trust, the Woodlands for Water project focused on reducing agricultural pollution in the Alyn catchment. Sara Mault, our farming officer, worked with 11 farms in the catchment. In total across the Alyn catchment:

  • Sward lifted 237 acres of grassland to improve soil health
  • Helped plant 38 acres of herbal ley to improve soil health
  • Repaired 205 metres of cow tracks to reduce run-off into the watercourse
  • Under-sowed 48 acres of maize to reduce runoff from the stubble
  • Created 4 wetlands to polish runoff from clean water yards

Dee Dairy Fund

The objective of the Dee Dairy Fund was to help dairy farmers improve farmyard infrastructure to better manage slurry and reduce nitrate losses from the farm. This small project, funded by the Environment Agency, worked with three farms. The projects chosen were based on value for money and their impact in tackling pollution.

Through the project, we helped divert 262,346.4 cubic metres of clean water away from slurry lagoons, therefore, reducing the need to spread in vulnerable times of the year. As well, we helped a farm put in a new slurry management system to reduce slurry spilling onto a clean yard.

These projects have been instrumental in our approach of working with farms to help reduce agricultural pollution. The work of our Water Wise Farming programme will continue with Heritage Lottery funded projects in both the English section of the Dee and the Alyn catchment.