Dairy Project has visited over 800 farms in Wales

A Natural Resources Wales project aiming to reduce agricultural pollution has visited over 800 dairy farms in Wales.

A team of dairy officers has been carrying out pollution control visits across Wales offering advice and guidance to dairy farmers, helping ensure they are compliant with legislation and reduce the risk of pollution.

The experienced officers all have an agricultural background and bring their passion for sustainable farming to each visit. They offer advice and guidance on how farmers and land managers can make improvements to reduce the risk of causing agricultural pollution. 

To widen the offering of guidance to farms that haven’t been visited yet, as well as non-dairy farms, the dairy project team has produced a series of short informational videos. The first introductory video has been launched and others will follow in the coming weeks. All will be hosted on NRW’s You Tube channel.

Chris Thomas, Dairy Project Coordinator, of Natural Resources Wales, said:

“Our dairy farm visits are quite often looked upon as something to be feared by farmers, but the visits are about us giving advice, guidance and helping farmers identify ways in which they can make positive changes on their farms, which doesn’t always mean having to spend a lot of money.

“I visited a farm in mid Wales recently and after a tour, we were able to identify changes that could be made to make sure the farmer had  an appropriate amount of slurry storage without the need for construction of a new or extended slurry or silage storage.

“The Dairy Project is part of a multi-agency approach to working with farmers to eliminate agricultural pollution and we work closely with our partners through the Wales Land Management Forum sub-group, to provide rounded support to farmers.”

The project was set up three years ago with the aim of helping reduce agricultural pollution in Wales. It has visited 824 farms to date. During Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 dairy officers called 309 farms to follow up on progress, 242 of those visited have completed what was required. 131 farms have also been re-visited following the reduction in Coronavirus restrictions, allowing face to face meeting outside. Farm improvements include increasing slurry storage capacity and achieving reductions in livestock nitrogen loading to land.

View the Dairy Project video here: https://youtu.be/pPGb_RVw_YE  

For advice on how to eliminate agricultural pollution visit the NRW website, or for one-to-one advice call 0300 065 3000.