Reducing pollution from farming
Farmer Chris McDonald (a member of our Ouseburn fund) who now harvests rainwater to use on his farm.
We run three very different facilitation funds on behalf of Natural England to support farmers in the Tyne catchment to reduce pollution from agriculture and increase efficiency.
Farmers benefit from regular workshops and a 20% uplift in points when applying for a Countryside Stewardship scheme. The funds are free for farmers to join.
- The Ouseburn fund: this focuses on the urban farms and rivers around Newcastle which have a huge bearing on localised flooding
- The South Tyne fund: stretching from Lambley through to Alston and Garrigill, this fund is made up of hill farmers in the more rural part of the catchment
- The Don to Derwent fund: this focuses on farms in the urban fringe of the catchment and includes the River Don, the River Team and the Derwent.
Our workshops focus on practical ways to increase efficiency and improve water quality such as clean and dirty water separation, slowing the flow through hedge planting and buffer strips, reducing run-off and improving soil quality.
Our volunteers undertake a wide range of work on our farmers land. The below video shows a short example of the work we can do:
