Soil erosion prevention measures needed for Scottish arable farms

GIVEN the months of excess rainfall experienced especially by potato growers, it was apt to hear from Wull Dryburgh from SEPA who gave the audience his personal thoughts.

Wull gave a lively presentation with photos of some extreme soil erosion and run off where thousands of tonnes of topsoil have been lost from many fields in recent months. Or as Wull put it, 2023 was ‘a bad year for soil erosion’. Storm Babet, for example, dumped seven inches of rain on the Angus Glens on a single day.

Explaining the wild weather Wull said: “There is no normal anymore, the new normal is that there is no normal. Climate change is happening and as far as I am concerned, we are beyond the tipping point now, I think it is going to get worse.”

Nevertheless, Wull felt that there was no point in farmers sticking their heads in the sand as there are mitigation measures farmers can and should be undertaking to reduce the dangers of soil erosion.

He cited many cases of fields he had seen around Loch Leven and the South Queich river catchment area where no mitigation had taken place. As a result, hundreds of tonnes of phosphorous rich soil had been washed into the Loch.

Wull predicted the summer of 2024 will see some of the worst cases of algal bloom. Wull was frustrated to see so many potato fields in this area not grubbed after and pesticides going down a river aren’t doing anyone any good’.

Wull told me later that it takes 500 years to make one inch of topsoil, yet hundreds of thousands of tonnes are lost to the North Sea in years like 2023. Given that soil is a farmers most valuable asset, then it has to be a win-win if SEPA and farmers work together to ensure soil stays in the field.

Dr Keith Dawson suggested the Scottish Government could help by introducing capital grants for new field drainage systems as many now need to be replaced. Wull pointed out that the decision was not one for SEPA to make. However, Keith suggested SEPA could put it on the table. From conversations during the break, it seems that the quango with the most seats around the Scottish Government table was Nature Scot.

The general feeling was that the Scottish Government would benefit from also having SEPA and Wull at the top table to give practical advice that farmers could engage with.