With winters becoming more and more unpredictable, how can farmers prepare to cope?

Leila Froud, Senior Technical Officer in Organic Certification, Soil Association Certification, looks at resources, support and funding available to farmers in the UK.

You may have noticed it has been a bit wet lately…

Farmers around the UK will be crossing their fingers and toes, hoping the worst is over after the recent storms and wet weather. Unfortunately, due to our now highly unpredictable and intense weather, we can’t be sure that there isn’t more to come.

As an ex-Agricultural Advisor and Farm Officer for the Environment Agency, I am keenly aware of the pressure farmers are under to meet the regs and rules when facing challenging weather conditions. It can be particularly difficult managing manure and slurry storage through the winter in exceptionally wet conditions. Excess water adding to the volume of material that needs to be stored, raising the risk of run-off and preventing spreading due to unsuitable ground conditions. This can push storage capacity to its limits.

So, what do you do? How do you prepare? Where do you find support?

Firstly, we are here if you need us. Please do call and talk to our Certification team if you have concerns due to circumstances affecting your Organic business. You can call the Producer Certification Team on 0117 914 2412.

If you are concerned at any point in the winter that your slurry or manure storage will be at risk of not coping, before the winter rainfall is over, and ground conditions improve, are there things can you do to minimise the risk?

For example:

• Reducing livestock numbers using slurry systems

• Can animals be housed with deep litter that can be stored in the housing until spring without risk to their welfare?

• Can manure heaps that are stored outside be covered to prevent run off?

• Are there any local organic growers without livestock that may be grateful to take away excess manure? We may be able to help identify other organic producers in your area.

• Have you got details at hand of companies that will remove excess slurry to prevent slurry storage becoming overwhelmed, just in case it is needed?

There is help available in the form of grants that may help with infrastructure on the farm to increase storage capacity or make changes to minimise the volume of dirty water. These are open every year, and there are grants for all the devolved nations, even if the names of the grants differ slightly.

I have compiled a list of these for each devolved nation. We can’t guarantee you will be given a grant if you apply, but we can guarantee you won’t get one if you do not apply… so best have a go if you can!

Last year, Defra initiated a storm recovery plan, offering funding for farmers affected by the flooding in 23/24. We hope there may be a similar funding pool opened in Spring 2025 due to this winter flooding, but for now, I advise you keep an eye on the Defra Farming website for news. 

There are also Capital Grants available, and you can apply for these all year round to go towards things such as roofing, yard drainage, concrete and manure storage.

So, what do you need to be aware of and what help is there?

The Capital Grants are particularly focused to prevent future pollution. In turn, helping farms to comply with the regs (SSAFO and Farming Rules for Water).

But what are those rules? Well, if you follow the Farming Advice Service (FAS), you will have seen their recent document from the Environment Agency, ‘Harvesting Success: Pollution Prevention Rules for Farmers’.  The FAS are a great resource for farmers and offer lots of advice on the grants as well, albeit for England only.

As I said above, I have compiled a list of grants for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Soil Association charity Farming and Land Use team farming advisors may also be able to help you. If you feel the pressure this winter, and need support please contact them at 0117 314 5100 .

The Positive

By being organic, you have set your farm up to be more resilient than most. Looking after your soils and keeping them as healthy and resilient as possible, preventing pollution, being nutrient wise and habitat wise, hopefully the impact from flooding will be short term. You are doing a great job, don’t forget that.

Some other places for key support

The Farming Help Network  (03000 111 999)

RABI - The leading UK farming charity (0800 188 4444 available 24hrs) if you would like to talk to someone for peer-support.