Tag Archives: flooding

Farming Recovery Fund extended to all parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire

Further to Environment Secretary Liz Truss’s announcement about compensation for farmers affected by Storm Eva flooding in Yorkshire and Lancashire on 31 December, Defra has now announced that the Farming Recovery Fund has been extended to all parts of both Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The Farming Recovery Fund, originally launched to help farmers hit by Storm Desmond in Cumbria, Northumberland and parts of Lancashire, will now be extended to farmers in all the areas affected by storms over Christmas and Boxing Day. The Farming Recovery Fund also covers farmers in Durham hit by Storm Desmond or Storm Eva.

Farmers suffering from uninsurable losses can apply for Farming Recovery Fund grants of up to £20,000 via the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) to help restore soils, rebuild tracks and repair flood channels.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said, “We remain committed to providing practical support to those farmers affected. That is why I am pleased to announce we will be extending the Farming Recovery Fund to help cover short-term uninsured recovery costs such as, repairing damaged soils, tracks and flood channels.

The deadline for applications has now been extended from 18 March 2016 to 1 April 2016 to allow farmers in the newly affected areas time to apply.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

The post Farming Recovery Fund extended to all parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire appeared first on Hort News.

Energy crop in trials to restore flood plain soils

Farmers looking for a crop to grow on flood-prone land, and help improve soils after flooding, can also provide fuel for biomass by growing miscanthus according to new trials.

These have shown that the crop survives in water-logged land and its effect on the soil after flooding. The trials are being run by the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University and Terravesta and are being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

“We know miscanthus has the ability to tolerate flooding when it’s mature, but there’s a gap in the data about its tolerance during its establishment stage, and this is during the first two years of growth,” said plant physiologist Dr Sarah Purdy. “What’s really exciting about these trials is that we’re also going to analyse the health of the soil, following the floods, when compared to other land-uses.”

The trials will see the biomass crop, miscanthus, grown on commercial flood-prone sites, on plot-scale sites and in controlled environments under glass, to monitor how the crop copes with prolonged flooding. They will also be able to establish whether the crop can increase soil stability.

Photo Credit: Pinstone Communications

The post Energy crop in trials to restore flood plain soils appeared first on Hort News.