The England Catchment Sensitive Farming Delivery Initiative (ECSFDI) is part of Defra’s Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) Programme which aims to tackle diffuse water pollution from agriculture in order to meet the objectives of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The ECSFDI also contributes to the achievement of domestic and international environmental targets, in particular 2010 PSA targets for SSSIs.
The initiative was initially rolled out in April 2006 in forty priority catchments in England, and will continue to at least 2010-11. In October 2008 an additional 10 priority catchments were added to the existing 40, and extensions were made to 7 of the existing catchments.
Visit the MAGIC website to find out if you are in a priority catchment.
In terms of farmer behaviours and practices, CSF includes encouraging best practice in the use of fertilisers, manures and pesticides; promoting good soil structure to maximise infiltration of rainfall and minimise run-off and erosion; protecting watercourses from faecal contamination (e.g. with fencing and livestock crossings), and from sedimentation and pesticides (e.g. with buffer strips); reducing stocking density or grazing intensity; reverting to grassland etc.
The key elements of the ECSFDI include:
- Partnership working between Defra, Natural England and the Environment Agency.
- A network of Catchment Sensitive Farming Officers (CSFOs) responsible for individual catchments, co-ordinated at River Basin District level with the assistance of Regional Co-ordinators.
- Catchment Steering Groups involving local stakeholders, including water companies; farm advice deliverers like FWAG, conservation bodies such as Rivers and Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, National Trust; farming organisations such as NFU, CLA, LEAF and especially farmers.
- Support for Strategic partnerships in 16 catchments other than the 50 priority catchments.
- Technical support from Pesticides Voluntary Initiative in catchments where there are pesticide issues. Other technical support from ADAS and Westcountry Rivers Trust.
The Catchment Sensitive Farming Officers offer free advice to farmers. This includes free workshops and often free soil or manure sampling. Find contact details for your local CSFO on the Defra website.
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