A group of farmers in the Hampshire Avon catchment has established a new on-farm water testing laboratory to monitor the health of the Bourne, a tributary of the River Avon. The facility is the fifth of its kind created by members of the Environmental Farmers Group (EFG), as part of a collaborative effort to better understand and reduce nitrate, phosphate and sediment pollution entering local chalk streams.
Farmers met at Manor Farm, near Winterbourne Earls in Wiltshire, for practical training in water sampling delivered by Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) scientist Will Beaumont and ecologist Robin Leech, who is conducting similar monitoring on the River Wylye. Chalk streams – of which 85% of the world’s total are found in England – are among the country’s most ecologically sensitive watercourses, making local monitoring particularly vital.
Initiated by the GWCT in 2022, EFG is a farmer-owned, farmer-led cooperative focused on delivering environmental benefits across the landscape. The new laboratory supports three of EFG’s core priorities: improving water quality, recovering biodiversity and species, and reducing carbon emissions to reach net-zero farming by 2040.
Manor Farm hosts the new laboratory, run by farmer Philip Harvey and his son Joe. Philip said:
“We are delighted to be joining our fellow EFG members in starting to test water quality on the Hampshire Avon catchment. As farmers we are very conscious of the need to look after the environment, especially as we live and farm in the largest chalk stream catchment in England. It’s important to be able to distinguish the impact of farming practices on the river from other sources of pollution.”
He added that farmers remain “at the mercy of the weather”, but are committed to preventing valuable soil and nutrients being lost to the river:
“We have to use nitrate fertiliser to grow food to feed the nation, but we need to use it efficiently to cut costs and minimise run-off.”
The on-farm laboratory has been supplied by Rothamsted Research through its Resilient Farming Futures Institute Strategic Programme, funded by UKRI-BBSRC.
Programme lead Professor Adie Collins said:
“This ground-breaking initiative empowers farmers to understand the pressures on their rivers and to take evidence-based action. By collecting data themselves, they can pinpoint likely pollution sources and put solutions in place where farming is a factor.”
EFG’s lead for water and river restoration, Tim Palmer, highlighted the value of long-term, farmer-collected evidence:
“EFG farmers in the Hampshire Avon have been testing water quality at four other points in the catchment for up to 2½ years now. We aim to produce a long-term database for nitrate, phosphate and sediment and to understand which interventions work best.”
“One year of weekly sampling along the River Wylye at 16 sites, plus analysis, adds up to 364 volunteer hours – around £7,200 worth of time. With two more labs planned, that rises to the equivalent of £43,000 of farmer contribution each year.”
EFG expects the network of farmer-run labs to continue expanding, with a new facility set to begin water testing in North Lincolnshire next year.
