Manure from livestock releases nitrogen and phosphorus into many UK rivers, together with the Until
Jim Gibson/Loop Pictures Ltd/Alamy
THE rolling English farmland of Dorset, Somerset and Devon may seem like a bucolic idyll, however seems to be will be misleading. These three counties within the nation’s south-west are residence to a whole lot of intensive dairy farms, producing virtually 1 / 4 of the UK’s milk. Hundreds of cows create a smelly downside for farmers: what to do with all of the dung? As I drive alongside the winding nation lanes, the stench drifting off close by fields gives a clue.
My nostrils apart, it’s native rivers that bear the brunt. In moist climate, slurry (manure plus water) overflows from silos the place it’s saved and runs off land into waterways, wreaking havoc on their ecology. The scenario is especially unhealthy within the south-west, however this can be a nationwide downside – and it isn’t the one harm that agriculture does to rivers. Over latest many years, strain from supermarkets to offer plentiful meals at low costs has pushed farmers to spice up livestock numbers, use extra fertilisers and pesticides to extend crop yields and take away hedgerows to make bigger, extra environment friendly fields. All these actions have knock-on results, polluting watercourses with soil sludge, poisonous chemical substances and extra vitamins like nitrogen and phosphorus.
As in different international locations, the UK has laws to scale back the ecological harm brought on by farming. However implementing these guidelines isn’t at all times simple, even when surroundings companies make them a precedence. No marvel the UK’s rivers are in such a foul state. It seems like the right storm, however, in my …