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Trudie Dockerty, Andrew Lovett, Kevin Hiscock, Lister Noble University of East Anglia, May 2014

EXTENDING KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE IN THE WENSUM DTC

REPORT ON ACTIVITIES 2010 – 2014

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Contents

Page 1. Fostering Positive Engagement through the ‘Wensum Alliance’ 1

1.1 Rationale for engagement in the Wensum 1 2. Mechanisms for Engagement and Knowledge Exchange 3

2.1 Media 3

2.1.1 Wensum Alliance website 3

2.1.2 The Wensum DTC interactive Google Earth project 3 2.1.3 Printed materials 5 2.1.4 Press articles 5 2.2 Activities and Events 6 2.2.1 Public engagement events and activities 6 2.2.2 Annual meetings of the Wensum Alliance 6 2.2.3 Farmer events and site visits 7 2.2.4 Specialist group, academic and stakeholder site visits and presentations 7 2.2.5 Farmer-led monitoring 8 3. Collaborative Working 10

3.1 New projects arising and research supported

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3.2 Facilitating the catchment-based approach 11

4. Assessment of Progress 11

Appendix A: List of Activities 13

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1. Fostering Positive Engagement through the ‘Wensum Alliance’

The Demonstration Test Catchments (DTC) programme is novel with respect to its ‘ground upwards’ approach to the research protocol, involving land owners and managers, farming and environmental organisations, as well as government agencies and researchers in its development. The programme has three main objectives:- 1. As a research project: to provide underpinning research from farm to catchment scale, that informs both policy and practical approaches for the reduction of agricultural diffuse pollution and the improvement of ecological status in freshwaters, whilst maintaining economically viable food production. 2. As a research platform: to host collaborative research in the longer-term on diffuse pollution from agriculture; to establish a sustainable research platform to enable short and longer-term research questions to be answered; to help develop better organised interdisciplinary research which informs integrated policy, and helps with the dissemination of the knowledge gathered. 3. To explore a potential new approach to catchment management: centred on a partnership between stakeholders with local knowledge and understanding and scientists/practitioners. During Phase 1 of the DTCs from 2010-13 the core Component 1 has included embedded knowledge exchange activities with a key objective of establishing and promoting the platform, developing ‘communities of practice’ on which further research work can build into the future. The following paragraphs discuss the broad approached followed and how this has evolved over time. 1.1 Rationale for engagement in the Wensum When the Wensum DTC began in 2010 there was a relatively low base in terms of community engagement with catchment management issues. At that time there were no active river trusts in Norfolk, just some relatively small groups focused on particular localities and work on the River Wensum Restoration Strategy coordinated by the Environment Agency. In the initial stages of the project it was therefore important to develop contacts with existing organisations operating in the Wensum catchment, clarify the objectives of the DTC initiative and ensure that there was no conflict in terms of operational activities. Subsequently the DTC has deliberately sought to develop and support a network of interested parties which now numbers over 180 interested individuals and organisations. The name ‘Wensum Alliance’ was deliberately adopted for this network to emphasise its inclusive nature and the diversity involved is represented in Figure 1. Land use in the Wensum catchment is dominated by relatively large arable farms. Given the importance of engagement with the agricultural community it was decided at an early stage that there was also a specific need for an individual to act as a bridge between the research team and local farmers, agronomists, farm equipment manufacturers, etc. The involvement of Lister Noble (Farm Systems & Environment) with specific responsibility for farm liaison has been crucial to the success of the Wensum DTC. As a former farmer himself, Lister has been instrumental in developing awareness and understanding regarding DTC activities. His role as knowledge broker was central to obtaining the agreement of farms to host experimental work and/or monitoring facilities and has subsequently been invaluable in maintaining good relationships and obtaining farm business data. From the perspective of farmers it has also been advantageous to have a clear ‘point of contact’ with the DTC and overall the experience during Phase 1 has highlighted the importance of such bridging or gatekeeper roles.

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Over the period 2010-14 the engagement and knowledge exchange (KE) activities undertaken by the Wensum DTC have evolved. Initially the emphasis was on promoting awareness of the DTC among different audiences, but since 2012 this has shifted towards the presentation of findings (first from monitoring operations and more recently implementation of mitigation measures) and two-way discussion regarding interpretation and implications. Furthermore, the context in which the DTC is operating has altered through the creation of several river trusts. In 2011 the Norfolk Rivers Trust was established and in 2012 this was followed by the River Waveney Trust and the Broadland Catchment Partnership (which includes the River Wensum as a contributing source). The DTC now has involvement in the work of all three of these trusts (see details in Section 3 of this report). Lastly, whereas the initial focus was on running specific DTC-led events the trend in recent years has been to undertake more engagement through participating in activities led by other organisations (e.g. the River Trusts, Catchment Sensitive Farming and local farm advisers such as NIAB-TAG and Frontier). This has been efficient in terms of staff time and expanded the audience for DTC activities, as well as supporting the development of the catchment-based approach in the region. The next sections of this report summarise the main activities undertaken by the Wensum DTC, providing examples of different events or initiatives and ending with an assessment of the progress made.

Figure 1: Major components of the ‘Wensum Alliance’

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2. Mechanisms for Engagement and Knowledge Exchange

2.1 Media 2.1.1 Wensum Alliance Website A key mechanism for general promotion of the DTC has been the Wensum Alliance website at http://www.wensumalliance.org.uk. This comprehensive website is intended to be the ‘shop window’ for the Wensum DTC and contains background information about the Wensum catchment and project, links to other DTCs and DTC related websites, information about the Wensum Alliance, the monitoring programme, results generated from the monitoring programme, news about activities and events, who’s who and contact information and various downloadable factsheets, research summaries and conference presentations. The website is also the access portal to a Wensum DTC Google Earth project. The website has had over 30,000 page loads to date and just over 11,000 unique visits (www.statcounter.com, 13/02/14) (see Figure 2). Unfortunately visits to the website have exceeded the limits of the free web tracker service, so more detailed statistics are not available for the whole lifetime of the website. A snapshot for a recent month (January 2014) indicates downloads from the website in excess of 250 during the month (factsheets, presentations and monitoring data summaries) and 14 visits to the Wensum DTC Google Earth link-page.

2.1.2 The Wensum DTC interactive Google Earth project Public domain GIS data combined with information generated during the DTC research programme has been compiled into a customised spatial data project that is viewable through the Google Earth application. The system allows viewers to take a virtual tour of the Wensum DTC, and examine the considerable amount of information that has been compiled for the catchment, including land cover and water quality status and monitoring sites, as well as seeing the different types of data that are being collected via state-of-the-art monitoring equipment, with graphs, photos and video explanations. Viewers need to download Google Earth to their computers then launch the project from the link given in the Wensum Alliance website. The different datasets and layers can be viewed using the navigation bar on the left of the screen (as shown in Figure 3). Clicking in the square boxes will toggle a layer on and off. The scroll button on a mouse can be used to zoom in and out (or use the

Figure 2: Visits to Wensum Alliance website

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pan and zoom tools shown on the screen). Clicking on the various icons brings up more information, photos or video clips from particular locations.

Estimated (monthly) number of Google Earth visitors: 14 in January 2014 (19 in January 2013)

Figure 3: Wensum DTC Google Earth Project

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2.1.3 Printed materials A range of printed material has been produced (Figure 4) including posters (some of which are academic and others for public information), factsheets (printed and available as .pdfs from the website), a series of research summary flyers (also printed and available from the website), plus activity-related materials such as postcards giving information about the project and instructions for the nitrate testing activity that has formed part of our public engagement events.

2.1.4 Press articles

Opportunities have been sought to engage with the press and broadcast media as a means of informing the general public about progress with the project. Kevin Hiscock participated in an interview on BBC Radio Norfolk; articles have appeared in the local press, in farming publications such as Farmers Weekly, the Farmers Guardian and NIAB-TAG Landmark Bulletin. A list is given in Appendix 1.

Figure 4: Illustrations of the range of printed information products

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2.2 Activities and Events 2.2.1 Public engagement events and activities A number of events have been attended as outreach activities to engage with members of the public (adults and children) to inform them about the project, educate on water quality issues, and where applicable enable engagement via the Wensum Alliance. A ‘water testing’ activity has been developed and has proved popular with both adults and children using test strips to measure nitrate in water samples and to distinguish water from various sources (rainwater, local rivers and boreholes) and providing participants with a postcard explaining the aims of the DTC research. These activities provide a good lead-in to discussing water quality issues and to introduce the research work (Figure 5). Participating in such events also provides an avenue for members of the public to feed in their local knowledge of the Wensum catchment. In addition, an ‘arts meets science’ event for the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2011, in which ice blocks, created by artist Liz Ballard, were put into the river, melting to release a harmless organic green dye (fluorescein) that turned the river into one big fluorescent artwork, attracted considerable press reporting, drawing attention to the problems of water pollution. Further opportunities of this nature continue to be sought.

Number of events to date: 8 Estimated number of participants: 250+

Figure 5: Engaging with the public at the World Water Day Festival in Norwich (March 2012)

2.2.2 Annual Meetings of the Wensum Alliance In addition to having information and updates on the research available through the website and Google Earth project, four annual conferences have been held to date to enable members of the Wensum Alliance to engage with and influence the shape of the research, to be informed of progress and to raise awareness of potential collaborative opportunities (Figure 6). These one-day conferences have been fully subscribed in each year, attracting around 70 delegates on each occasion from a wide range of stakeholder organisations including farming and environmental NGOs, farming supply companies, the regional water supply company and water interest groups (e.g. IDBs,

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freshwater, river and fisheries groups), farmers, local authorities and academics/researchers with aligned interests. Discussion and networking at such events has certainly played an important role in supporting the local development of the catchment-based approach.

Figure 6: Lively discussion and field visit during the fourth Wensum Alliance Conference (July 2013)

Number of Events to date: 4 Estimated overall number of participants: 280+

2.2.3 Farmer events and site visits Contact with the farming community has been enhanced by the involvement of Lister Noble (farm liaison). Invitations have been accepted to give presentations at a number of farmer events, including meetings organised by NIAB-TAG, Frontier and the Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative. In 2011 the DTC collaborated with the regional NFU office to organise a meeting for farmers and landowners in the Wensum catchment. The meeting was held at Salle Village Hall (close to several of the monitoring sites) and was attended by about 30 people. Participants learned about the Wensum DTC research, the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme and the latest results from a project investigating sources of sediment pollution and siltation, and discussed measures that could be taken to reduce diffuse pollution from agriculture. Subsequently there was a field visit to demonstrate some of the monitoring equipment and attendees were also invited to take part in the project by borrowing hand held probes to measure nitrate concentrations in ditches and streams on their own land. More recently, in February 2014, the DTC participated in a meeting organised by British Sugar at Salle where sugar beet farmers saw the ongoing cover crop and cultivation method trials and heard details of reduced nitrate levels in soil water and field drain flows beneath the cover crop fields.

Number of Events to date: 16 Estimated number of participants: 300+

2.2.4 Specialist group, academic and stakeholder site visits and presentations Field trips by visiting academics, staff of government agencies and NGOs to view the monitoring stations and gain a greater understanding of the experimental work have also been popular. These have included a group of Chinese visitors as part of the China-UK Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAIN), Royal Agricultural College alumni and officials from Defra and the Environment Agency.

Number of Events to date: 7 Estimated number of participants: 180+

Presentations about the DTC research have also been given to various specialist groups and academic meetings. For instance in 2012, Kevin Hiscock and Andrew Lovett spoke at a Centre for Contemporary Agriculture (CCA) Technical Event at Easton College which examined ‘Soil, Water and

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Precision Management’. Since late 2013 several presentations have been given at river trust or Catchment Sensitive Farming meetings to provide updates on monitoring results or progress with the cover crop and cultivation method trials.

Number of Events to date: 12 Estimated number of participants: 240+

2.2.5 Farmer-led monitoring As part of the knowledge exchange activities of the Wensum DTC, several small trials with hand-held monitoring equipment have been conducted. Several Hanna HI 9829 probes were initially purchased, which can measure nitrate, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and water temperature, but these were not sufficiently reliable in validation tests using samples that were also processed by the analytical laboratory at UEA. Several farmers attending the Wensum DTC/NFU meeting in November 2011 offered to participate in undertaking monitoring of field drains on their own farms. Since the Hanna probes did not prove effective in spring 2012 we supplied three farmers with nitrate test strips so that they could assess variations in water quality from field drains under different crops. These strips typically cost about £10 for a tube of 50 strips, but have limited sensitivity with colour changes that can be matched to indicator levels of (for example) 0, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500 mg/l NO3. Three farmers used the strips to take measurements on three or four fields every fortnight or so for three months (March to May 2012). Between them, they collected 65 data points on 14 dates from 11 locations. Table 1 shows the range of readings recorded from drains on fields with a variety of different crops. Table 1: Nitrate test strip measurements from three farms in the Wensum (Apr – May 2012).

Minimum (mg/l NO3)

Maximum (mg/l NO3)

Oilseed rape 0 5

Winter wheat 2 20

Sugar beet 20 80

Field beans 20 50

Linseed 5 20

Herbs 10 20

Pasture 5 5 The results were sufficiently reliable to highlight differences between crops (e.g. concentrations <10 mg/l NO3 from fields of oilseed rape where the crop was actively taking up nitrogen fertiliser, and values in the range 20-80 mg/l NO3 where sugar beet had been planted). However, it was not possible to identify any consistent changes following rainfall events and all three farmers noted that there was a degree of subjectivity in matching the colour changes to the shade scale on the side of the tubes. Based on this experience it was decided that we needed equipment with greater sensitivity and that could provide a readable concentration (rather than requiring comparison with colour shades). It took some time to identify a possible solution, but in late 2012 the DTC purchased five Lovibond MD 600 Photometers (costing £815 each, including VAT) from Tintometer Ltd (http://www.lovibond.com/) and have been pleased with their performance.

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The photometers can be set up to analyse quite a wide range of water quality parameters, although so far only phosphate (PO4) and nitrate (mg/l N) concentrations have been analysed. The phosphate test involves crushing two tablets in a water sample and leaving them to dissolve for 10 minutes before taking a reading. A set of 250 phosphate tablets costs about £50. The nitrate test is more expensive (£150 for 25 tests) and involves tubes of reagents with a high concentration of sulphuric acid. Completed risk assessment forms are required for both analyses and it has been useful to purchase additional plastics boxes, trays, test tube stands etc. to store and manage the equipment and reagents (see Figure 7 below). To date there have not been any problems with safety issues. Figure 7: Lovibond MD 600 Photometer

The nitrate test has an advertised range of 1-30 mg/l N. Repeated analyses of the same water sample from a field drain have typically generated variations of 1-2 mg/l N around the mean value. For phosphate there is an advertised range of 0.05-4 mg/l PO4 and experience shows that it is quite possible to get results varying by 0.10 or 0.15 mg/l from repeat analyses on the same water sample. The issue with the phosphate tests is to ensure that the tablets are completely crushed and dissolved before putting the sample in the photometer. Beyond these caveats regarding precision, the equipment proved to be reliable and straightforward to explain to potential users. Over winter 2013-14 several of the photometers were loaned to the Catchment Sensitive Farming team in the Wissey catchment who are collaborating with farmers recruited through Frontier Agriculture to test their use. Another set of equipment was used by a project officer from the Norfolk Rivers Trust. Experiences reported back to date are that the equipment is certainly capable of identifying differences in field drain nutrient levels between crops (e.g. oilseed rape and wheat) and reductions in concentrations between late November and February. On a practical level there have been comments that the photometers are certainly an improvement on test strips or equipment from other suppliers, but issues have been encountered in getting all the phosphate tablets to dissolve and the view has been expressed that many farmers would require a training session and on-farm support to get consistently reliable results. Working with local Catchment Sensitive Farming officers, the Wensum DTC hopes to develop such training and gather further insights on experience during the next two years.

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3. Collaborative Working

3.1 New projects arising and research supported The facilities and staff resources of the Wensum DTC have enabled collaboration with a number of other research projects. A significant contribution has been made to the Defra Agricultural Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Research Platform through research on the measurement of indirect nitrous oxide emissions (Project AC0116). Other initiatives have included work with Anglian Water on monitoring pesticides in the Wensum catchment, with ADAS on the assessment of stream sediment characteristics, and with the Environment Agency on assessing the attenuation of pesticides from the new biobed constructed at Manor Farm, Salle (see Figure 8). National capability work has been undertaken by the British Geological Survey using the DTC boreholes constructed at Salle and farm information has been provided to an ESRC research project based at Durham University. The DTC has also acted as a gatekeeper to arrange farmer appointments for interviews in support of research projects based at the Universities of Warwick and Lancaster and to access monitoring sites and data for NERC-funded research projects based at the Universities of Bristol (DOMAINE) and Lancaster (NUTCAT). The Wensum DTC is also a research partner in the IAEA Co-ordinated Research Project on the application of environmental tracers to assess water quality in rivers affected by shallow groundwater discharge. Figure 8: Biobed at Manor Farm, Salle showing the biobed in the foreground, the enclosed wash-

down and sprayer storage shed and the drain field in the background

In addition to these activities, over 20 undergraduate, MSc/MSci or PhD student projects have been assisted with field work and access to facilities and/or data. Most of these have been based at UEA (including NERC, EPSRC and ESRC funded PhD students), but there have also been MSc students from Imperial College, King’s College and Cranfield University. The ongoing monitoring activities and network of farmer contacts has also made it feasible to respond quite quickly to enquiries from Defra officials, for instance regarding the impacts on farming of the wet weather in 2012, the testing of a draft checklist for silage, slurry and agricultural fuel oil (SSAFO) storage and the sense-checking of a list of basic on-farm mitigation measures for implementation under revised agri-environmental policy.

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3.2 Facilitating the catchment-based approach As noted earlier, the context in which the Wensum DTC has been operating has changed appreciably in the last three years with the development of several active river trusts. The DTC has sought to support these organisations in a variety of ways ranging from informal discussion at annual meetings to more specific assistance. For instance, the Norfolk Rivers Trust (NRT) was loaned one of the Lovibond photometers and a field visit was made to advise on monitoring strategies. A UEA PhD student (Sarah Taigel) supervised by the DTC lead investigators made a substantial contribution to the community engagement activities of the NRT in north Norfolk and this is reflected in the content of the River Stiffkey Local Catchment Plan (2014). Liaison with the River Waveney Trust (RWT) has developed in the last six months and there are now plans for two UEA interns supervised by a DTC lead investigator to assist the RWT during the summer of 2014 to establish a GIS capability at their office and provide input into an emerging catchment plan. Findings from monitoring activities and other research results have also been fed into the work of the Broadland Catchment Partnership and will feature in their catchment plan which is due for publication in 2014. Overall, the result of these activities is that the DTC is positioning itself to act as a source of research results and technical advice to local rivers trusts. Such support has been positively received by these developing initiatives and the foundations established for more extensive collaboration in the future.

4. Assessment of Progress The activities discussed in this report demonstrate that the Wensum DTC has made substantial progress in developing a ‘community of practice’ within the catchment. During the period 2010-14 there has been an evolution of engagement and knowledge exchange activities from an emphasis on awareness raising and specifically DTC events, towards a multi-directional exchange of information (e.g. see Figure 9) and closer working relationships with other organisations operating in the region. As more findings from the mitigation measures work emerge so the opportunities for multi-directional discussion will increase and for the DTC to contribute to the expanding operations of local river trusts. This will directly provide research support to local implementation of the catchment-based approach. Over the coming years the Wensum DTC is therefore well-placed to ensure effective dissemination of the project findings and, where appropriate, support their transfer into policy and practice across both the wider catchment and nationally.

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Figure 9: Field visit by Defra soil and water quality, biodiversity and sustainable agriculture staff to view spring bean establishment using different cultivation and drilling methods (Manor Farm, Salle, March 2014)

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Appendix A: List of Activities

Mechanism for KE Description Activities Measure of Engagement

Wensum Alliance website

A comprehensive website intended to be the ‘shop window’ of information about the Wensum DTC – what it is about, what is happening on the ground, what data are being collected, access to reports and data, news, events, people involved, related projects, how to get involved and how to make contact. Also includes links the overall DTC programme and related websites.

Twitter feeds/updates Monitoring data updates Enquiry form

No. of visitors to website No. of page views (Google Analytics)

Google Earth interactive

An interactive GIS project embedding in Google Earth and accessed via the Wensum Alliance webpage that allows users to query data layers, access information and data (such as monitoring points), photos and videos to gain further understanding about the Wensum DTC project.

No. of users (via access page of Wensum Alliance website) (Google Analytics)

Annual Meetings of the Wensum Alliance

Annual conference which has provided the opportunity for members of the Wensum Alliance to help shape the design of the research program and provides annual progress reports.

15 July 2010: ‘Current Initiatives in the Wensum’ 20 May 11: ‘Progress and next steps in the Wensum Catchment’ 17 July 12: ‘Reporting back: examining the catchment baseline data’ 04 July 13: ‘Research and partnership working in the Wensum catchment’

No. of individuals attending No. of stakeholder sectors represented

Public engagement events and activities

Outreach events to engage with members of the public (adults and children) to inform them about the project, educate on water quality issues, and where applicable facilitate engagement via the Wensum Alliance.

15 January 2010: Waveney Valley Study Group Event 23 March 2011: The Water Pollution Solution! (Easter children’s play scheme) 07 May 2011: Norfolk & Norwich Festival ‘Tracing Water’ Event 21 May 2011: Salle Parish Public Open Day 22 March 2012: World Water Festival in Norwich 19 May 2012: Wild about the Wensum Event at Pensthorpe Nature Reserve 18 May 2013: Wild about the Wensum Event at Pensthorpe Nature Reserve 15 July 2013: Manor Farm, Salle Open Day

No. of invitations to events No. of events attended No. of individuals participating

Farmer events and site visits

Outreach events to engage with members of the farming community to inform them about the project, educate on water quality issues, and where applicable facilitate involvement in DTC activities.

03 June 2010: Frontier Agriculture Farm Open Day, Woodfields Farm, Gressenhall 17 June 2010: NIAB TAB, Morley Farm Open Day, Morley 21 October 2010: NIAB TAG Professional Development Training Event 11 November 2010: Loddinginton Farm open day

No. of site visit requests No. of farmers participating

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25 February 2011: Presentation to estate staff at Salle 07 June 2011: Visit by Danish agronomists and farmers 08 June 2011: Frontier Agriculture Farm Open Day, Woodfields Farm, Gressenhall 22 June 2011: Wakelyns Farm Open Day, Fressingfield, Suffolk 22 June 2011: National Agronomy Centre 'Research into Practice' Open Day 24 November 2011: Meeting for NFU members in the Wensum catchment 25 April 2012: Defra-ADAS-Wensum Alliance workshop 06 June 2012: Frontier Agriculture Gressenhall Demonstration Site Open Day 21 June 2012: The Arable Group (TAG) Open Day, Morley 05 June 2013: Frontier Agriculture Gressenhall Demonstration Site Open Day 12 December 2013: Presentation to NIAB-TAG farmers group meeting, Cambridge 17 December 2013: Presentation to NIAB-TAG farmers group meeting, Ottley College 17 February 2014: Presentation to British Sugar growers meeting on cover crops 27

th February 2014: Presentation to

Alpha Group farmers meeting, Morley on cover crops.

Specialist group, academic and stakeholder site visits

12 October 2010: Field visit with local Environment Agency staff 04 November 2010: Field trip with ADAS sediment tracing team 14 February 2011: Field trip to DTC monitoring sites with Catchment Water Resources students from UEA 18 March 2011: Visit by Agro-Environmental Protection Institution, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing and other leading Chinese Universities 24 May 11: Water Security Short Course Visit 13 July 2011: DEFRA / Environment Agency Visit 20 June 2012: Royal Agricultural College Alumni Visit to Salle Estate:

No. of site visit requests No. of individuals participating

Presentations to specialist groups, academics and at stakeholder meetings

06 October 2010: Meeting with local Environment Agency staff to discuss biological monitoring 18 October 2010: Broads Water Quality Partnership meeting, Dragonfly House, Norwich 11 November 2010: East of England Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) stakeholder group meeting 17 November 2010: CIWEM

No. of presentations given No. of individuals participating

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Technical Seminar: The Cutting Edge of Environmental Research 09 September 2011: Wensum DTC student research day 15 March 2012: Soil, Water and Precision Management Event, Easton College 24 January 2013: Presentation to the Norfolk Rivers IDB 07 February 2013: Valuing Groundwater – Geological Society lecture 17 October 2013: Wensum CSF Steering Group meeting 03 December 2013: Presentation to Broadland Catchment Partnership workshop 28 January 2014: Presentation to River Waveney Trust 03 February 2014: Presentation to CSF meeting, Hall Farm, Metton on cover crops

Press articles Farmers Weekly 05/03/10 ‘Water pollution trials put practices in the spotlight’ BBC Radio Norfolk 15/07/10 EDP p26 15/07/10 Evening News p2 15/07/10 Farmers Guardian http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/rural-life/country-view/norfolk-river-clean-up-begins/33147.article Evening News p41 17/07/10 Water and waste treatment p26 01/07/10 Times Higher Education p14 22/07/10 Farmers Weekly 01/10/10 ‘Producers are key in trials to cut water pollution’ FWR Newsletter Issue 2, 2010 ‘Reducing diffuse water pollution – the Demonstration Test Catchments Project’ ENDS Report, October 2010 ‘Farm water pollution under scrutiny; WET news 1/7/12 ‘Making agriculture more sustainable’ Evening News p8 11/05/11 International Environmental Technology 2/7/12 Active Water, May 2012, feature article ‘Finding ways to tackle diffuse pollution’ http://foodsecurity.ac.uk December 2012, ‘From big science to better water’ Landmark Bulletin publication, December 2012 ‘Demonstration Test Catchments: an update on progress and findings to date’

No. of press articles

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Farmer-led monitoring

A project inviting farmers to participate in monitoring and learn about water quality on their own land.

No. of farmers participating, reliability of data obtained.

Research collaboration

Fostering the development of the Wensum catchment as a broader research platform, for exchange and multiple uses of existing and new data, and the development of further collaborative research.

Defra Agricultural Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Research Platform (Project AC0116). Pesticides monitoring work with Anglian Water. Monitoring of new biobed at Salle in collaboration with the Environment Agency. Stream sediment characterisation work by ADAS. Data provision to ESRC research project at Durham University. Farmer survey work by Lancaster and Warwick Universities facilitated by Lister Noble. BGS national capability wells/ groundwater survey. Providing support to research projects on catchment water quality, dissolved organic matter and climate change led by Bristol and Lancaster Universities. Contributing to the IAEA CRP on water quality and surface water/shallow groundwater interaction. Providing support for field work or through data provision to undergraduate, MSc/ MSci or PhD students (see list on website).

No. of collaborative projects arising

Facilitating the development of the catchment-based approach

Supporting the development of local river trusts and initiatives such as Catchment Sensitive Farming through the provision of technical advice, equipment, data and other research support.

Advice on monitoring strategies and provision of equipment to Norfolk Rivers Trust. Assistance with community engagement activities and plan development in the Stiffkey catchment. Supervision of interns working with the River Waveney Trust. Provision of research findings and advice to the Broadland Catchment Partnership to assist with plan development. Supply of research data and equipment to Catchment Sensitive Farming officers. Participation in farmer events and other meetings organised by the Catchment Sensitive Farming Initiative.

Input to local catchment plans Development of collaborative working relationships.