Farmers across the Hampshire Avon catchment are expanding their ability to track water quality, supported by tools and expertise developed at Rothamsted Research.
Farmers across the Hampshire Avon catchment are expanding their ability to track water quality, supported by tools and expertise developed at Rothamsted Research. A new on-farm laboratory on the Bourne—one of England’s best-known chalk streams—joins four existing sites established by the Evironmental Farmers Group (EFG), where farmers monitor nitrate, phosphate and sediment to understand how land management affects the river system.
We supplied the testing kit through the Resilient Farming Futures Institute Strategic Programme, funded by UKRI-BBSRC. Prof. Adie Collins, who leads the programme, said:
“This ground-breaking initiative empowers farmers to understand the pressures on their rivers and to take evidence-based action. By collecting data themselves, they can pinpoint likely pollution sources and put solutions in place where farming is a factor. We encourage more farming groups to adopt these low-tech, accessible methods to build long-term, locally driven evidence for action.”
Read More: Rothamsted Research
Photo Credit: Christian_Birkholz via Pixabay
