Highly recommended expert advice comes to CropTec

Eight in 10 farmers receiving advice from the governments Catchment Sensitive Farming partnership have seen improvements in water quality on their land or benefited financially.

Nearly 20,000 farms equivalent to 34 percent of Englands total farmland have received advice from local CSF officers since the partnership between Defra, the Environment Agency, and Natural England began in 2006 in a drive to tackle water pollution from agriculture.

Alongside improving water quality, farmers also reported seeing other benefits on their farm, such as an improved reputation after taking steps to become more environmentally friendly, or making savings on fertiliser costs by only applying the nutrients their soil actually needs.

For more than a decade the network of trained CSF advisers have helped farmers across the country implement more than 75,000 actions to reduce water pollution on their land from changing the way they apply pesticides to building new infrastructure to preventing pollutants from reaching waterways.

Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) is a successful partnership between Defra, the Environment Agency and Natural England. It works together with farmers and organisations in priority areas across England to improve the quality of our water and air. The partnership provides local expert advice, training and grant support to enable farmers to take voluntary action to improve the environment and their farm business.

Farmers and land managers can check out the available guidance to find out if their land is in a high priority area or get in touch with a local CSF officer to access free training and advice on how to improve water quality. Visit www.gov.uk/catchment-sensitive-farming