SRA Annual Report 2022-23: Online Natural Flood Management (NFM) auction schemes
Farmers were invited to bid for a range of land management and NFM measures on their land in an online auction organised for the SRA by FWAG SW. Online auctions involve bidders in very little paperwork, and they are designed to appeal to farmers’ detailed knowledge of their own land.
Consequently, since 2018, auctions have led to numerous measures that slow the flow of water down through catchments and produce other benefits. For instance, the SRA’s main interest in grassland subsoiling and slitting is that they aerate the ground so more rainwater can filter in. For farmers, they also improve the soil.
This year the Parrett and Tone catchments were excluded to avoid duplication with a similar EnTrade programme.
Many Somerset farmers still got involved but as with the Sowy-King’s Sedgemoor Drain Enhancements Scheme, activities later in the year were unfortunately hit by the weather.
Drought conditions made it a poor season for grass growing, which meant more grazing and silage-cutting later into the autumn and fewer opportunities for jobs like grassland slitting and subsoiling, especially when downpours then began.
Different places achieved different things.
Better maize management
- Green Farm, Downhead, 8.47 hectares.
- Sharpshaw Farm, Nunney, 38.47 hectares (see photograph below), plus 0.38 hectares of buffer strips in maize fields near watercourses.
- New Manor Farm, Witham Friary, 9.976 hectares, plus 42 metres of new grassed shallow ditch.
Grassland slitting
- Little Oak Farm, Theale near Wedmore, 42.71 hectares.
- Lane End Farm, Brinscombe, 13.65 hectares, plus 114.65 metres of hedge planting.
Grassland subsoiling
- Stroudes Farm near Oakhill, 5.62 hectares.
- Stoke Farm, Stoke St Michael, 12.36 hectares.
- Higher Farm, Shepton Montague, 6.5803 hectares.
Pond creation and tree planting
At Carslake Farm near Stogumber, a large pond (0.0457 hectares) was created to collect run-
off, and further measures are planned.
At Frith Farmhouse, Shaftesbury Lane, Wincanton, 0.476 hectares of cross-slope tree planting in a 210 by 20 metre belt at the base of a field is already showing NFM benefits.
