High court ruling on RiverAction judicial review of EA application of FRfW in Wye

[holwellcourtfarm]

Copying this DEFRA news item here as it will be seen more and has big implications, especially for those in the Wye catchment

High court ruling on Farming Rules for Water

Written by Defra Press Office

Today (24th May) the High Court has rejected all claims that the Environment Agency has failed to effectively enforce its Farming Rules for Water (FRfW).

In his ruling, Justice Dove found no fault with the Environment Agency’s approach to enforcing the Farming Rules for Water, noting that its approach has been ‘grounded in the correct interpretation of the 2018 Regulations’.

This judgment reflects the important work being done by the regulator with farmers to reduce diffuse pollution and ensure compliance with regulatory obligations in the FRfW in order to protect England’s watercourses from agricultural pollution.

The FRfW were drawn up in 2018 with input from agricultural and environmental stakeholders to build on the good progress that many farmers are already making to tackle pollution as a result of their activities. The Rules set out that farmers are responsible for always taking reasonable precautions to minimise the risk of pollution from applications of nutrients to land and livestock management.

If breaches of these regulations are identified, the Environment Agency will not hesitate to take appropriate action, up to and including enforcement.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:

We remain committed to protecting watercourses and working with farmers to meet their regulatory requirements and reduce diffuse pollution, and we are working to implement a more preventative, advice-led approach to monitoring and enforcement.

Since 2021 we have performed more than 10,000 farm inspections and required farmers to carry out over 17,000 improvement actions, including around the River Wye. These range from improving slurry storage to better management of nutrients. Our inspection regime is supported by the use of technology such as satellite images and drone footage.

Anyone caught breaching environmental laws faces enforcement action, up to and including prosecution.

Farming Rules for Water are just one means of managing nutrient load. Further key actions include:

• Rigorous farm inspections, with more than 4500 inspections carried out last financial year and over 7500 improvement actions issued. In 2020, 50 new Agricultural Regulatory Inspection Officers were employed, which has since increased to 91 officers of various grades in permanent positions across the country.
• Our inspection regime in the Wye catchment, which has been supported by the use of remote technology – such as satellite images, drone footage and LIDAR – to carry out inspections of wide areas of farmland. In late summer 2023, we contacted 400 farmers in the area following remote inspections to raise awareness of the regulations concerning bare ground and issues with soil erosion and run-off.
• Two days of intensive action in the Wye catchment in September 2023, where our officers inspected 39 farms in the area. Non-compliances were identified at 27 farms, with improvement actions issued to address them.
• Our Catchment Sensitive Farming programme – which is run in partnership with Natural England, the Forestry Commission and Defra – provides free 1-2-1 advice to farmers to help them reduce pollution through improvement of farm practices, such as managing effluent and manure and techniques for improving soil quality.

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Continue reading on Defra Website...

Judgement pdf here:

View attachment River-Action-v-Environment-Agency.pdf

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

The NFU don't come out of this well either....

 

[vantage]

Good stuff, nice to see farmers on the same footing as the water companies.

 

[Bald Rick]

Good stuff, nice to see farmers on the same footing as the water companies.

I'm raising my price to compensate for improved infrastructure...

 

[Werzle]

Dont think it helps the cause of the friends of wye when they let the crank who calls herself the woman of wye to front the campaign. Spreads alot of lies about the condition of the river too. EA seem friendless at the moment which sums up what a woefull organisation they are

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Dont think it helps the cause of the friends of wye when they let the crank who calls herself the woman of wye to front the campaign. Spreads alot of lies about the condition of the river too. EA seem friendless at the moment which sums up what a woefull organisation they are

I’ve looked at the water analysis work Lancaster Uni are doing for them and it does seem to support their claim that farms are causing an issue now.

it really shouldn’t be much surprise when large amounts of feed cereals are moved into the catchment from the Eastern counties to feed chickens if the local spreading of the manure leads to eutrophication of rivers. Avarra foods have stated a scheme to move some of the much out of the catchment again which is tantamount to admitting responsibility.

Surely the chicken businesses should be relocated to where the feed corn is grown? At least the muck could go back on the land it’s nutrients came from then?

Not good for the producers who’ve invested to grow their businesses though.

 

[Hindsight]

I’ve looked at the water analysis work Lancaster Uni are doing for them and it does seem to support their claim that farms are causing an issue now.

it really shouldn’t be much surprise when large amounts of feed cereals are moved into the catchment from the Eastern counties to feed chickens if the local spreading of the manure leads to eutrophication of rivers. Avarra foods have stated a scheme to move some of the much out of the catchment again which is tantamount to admitting responsibility.

Surely the chicken businesses should be relocated to where the feed corn is grown? At least the muck could go back on the land it’s nutrients came from then?

Not good for the producers who’ve invested to grow their businesses though.

Needs a power station to utilise the litter. As in East Anglia. Never understood why one not built.

 

[Bald Rick]

I’ve looked at the water analysis work Lancaster Uni are doing for them and it does seem to support their claim that farms are causing an issue now.

it really shouldn’t be much surprise when large amounts of feed cereals are moved into the catchment from the Eastern counties to feed chickens if the local spreading of the manure leads to eutrophication of rivers. Avarra foods have stated a scheme to move some of the much out of the catchment again which is tantamount to admitting responsibility.

Surely the chicken businesses should be relocated to where the feed corn is grown? At least the muck could go back on the land it’s nutrients came from then?

Not good for the producers who’ve invested to grow their businesses though.

IIRC Shropshire is one, if not the, biggest poultry county in the UK. Plenty of cereals grown there ... and the Severn flows through it bigly

 

[som farmer]

emphasis seemed more on farmers, than sewage releases.

but this is the world we live in, and thus we have to obey.

but chicken shite could easily be moved elsewhere, its valuable stuff.

big chicken unit at Stalbridge, processes and sells their shite, as fert.

 

[devonbeef]

naw just shut down uk agri with regs and import from abroad ,food abroad is produced in a magic world where food just appears at no cost to environment, they use no sprays and the animal welfare is light years above ours ,well it.s out of sight anyway, so it must be good , or so we can say so on the bulls**t of a food label

 

[nails]

emphasis seemed more on farmers, than sewage releases.

but this is the world we live in, and thus we have to obey.

but chicken shite could easily be moved elsewhere, its valuable stuff.

big chicken unit at Stalbridge, processes and sells their shite, as fert.

Pollution from any source going into waterways needs prosecuting. The water companies are the main polluters with un treated sewage but no way is Agriculture "Whiter Than White". Rivers compared to my childhood 50-60 years ago are in a sorry state.

 

[som farmer]

agreed we have to take more care over ag pollution.

but it seems to me, rather to focussed on pollution from ag, and not on the sewage that goes in.
there again, force the water boards to clean up, and bills go up, unpopular, so divert blame.

the w/boards are giving generous grants to farmers, to reduce 'run off' etc, worth looking at, we have some, and SFI.

 

[SilliamWhale]

Pollution from any source going into waterways needs prosecuting. The water companies are the main polluters with un treated sewage but no way is Agriculture "Whiter Than White". Rivers compared to my childhood 50-60 years ago are in a sorry state.

I think it's hard to say the water companies are the "main" polluters. Farmers pollute and need to be better.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Pollution from any source going into waterways needs prosecuting. The water companies are the main polluters with un treated sewage but no way is Agriculture "Whiter Than White". Rivers compared to my childhood 50-60 years ago are in a sorry state.

Rivers are nothing like what they were in the 1960's.

I blame Brexit, personally.

 

[steveR]

IIRC Shropshire is one, if not the, biggest poultry county in the UK. Plenty of cereals grown there ... and the Severn flows through it bigly

Plenty of arable locally, which possibly helps get rid of the muck. There seems to be tractor and trailers, forever hauling it out.... For sure, the stink when spreading the stuff, is much more common these days, as is noted in the local Facebook pages every time

N Herefordshire/S Shropshire was a big Poultry area 50+ years ago when I was growing up (Chuckie Chicken anyone, from JP Woods?), and nowadays the sheds are seen everywhere up and down the Borders, including in some rather unusual locations.

 

[robs1]

Pollution from any source going into waterways needs prosecuting. The water companies are the main polluters with un treated sewage but no way is Agriculture "Whiter Than White". Rivers compared to my childhood 50-60 years ago are in a sorry state.

I can't believe that stock farms are polluting more than 50 years ago we are all subject to the rules and I'm.sure red tractor inspections check slurry/muck/dirty water and silage controls, obviously there wasn't the big chicken units about but that issue should be really easy to solve

 

[Vader]

Pollution from any source going into waterways needs prosecuting. The water companies are the main polluters with un treated sewage but no way is Agriculture "Whiter Than White". Rivers compared to my childhood 50-60 years ago are in a sorry state.

Ironically my local river is 100% better than it was 50 years ago.
Then it was orange from steel work and mining pollution. Nothing alive.

Has trout in it now!
Still get sanitary towels and wipes on the land when it floods in winter as sewage works open the tanks..

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I can't believe that stock farms are polluting more than 50 years ago we are all subject to the rules and I'm.sure red tractor inspections check slurry/muck/dirty water and silage controls, obviously there wasn't the big chicken units about but that issue should be really easy to solve

That’s largely the point, there wasn’t the hugely concentrated intensity of production.

Fertiliser and pesticide use was a fair bit lower as well in my experience.

 

[Northern territory]

So what’s the solution? Drive everyone out of business with excessive costs. Because that’s the way it’s going and already happening.

 

[devonbeef]

imported food a example here in my breakfast ,reading the satsumas bag label from a well known supermarket, (obviously know you can not grow them here but could be replacing a uk fruit portion that could be grown here) it reads treated with 2, 4 D which is banned for cancer reasons in Europe, Wonder what the river down stream where that is produced is like?????