Flood-hit farmer hits out at EA ‘incompetence’

Lincolnshire arable farmer Henry Ward has accused the Environment Agency of incompetence after it failed to repair several breaches of riverbanks following last year’s flooding.

Mr Ward’s 80ha farm at Short Ferry was under water for six months from last October after the River Barlings Eau burst its banks and caused widespread flooding.

Although the Environment Agency (EA) repaired a riverbank breach on his farm, it has failed to fill a large hole further upstream on a neighbouring farm in Stainfield.

See also: Flood-hit farmers call for National Rivers Authority to be reinstated

“The EA has repaired our riverbank breach at Short Ferry because they had to do that to get the road open, but then nothing else has happened,” said Mr Ward.

“If the EA cannot even mend a gaping hole in a riverbank, what hope do we have for proper river maintenance?”

Mr Ward said flood-hit farmers were meant to have meetings with EA officials in July, but they were cancelled and they cannot raise a response from the agency.

SFI guarantee

Due to ongoing concerns that his land will flood badly again if the current wet spell continues, Mr Ward has decided to put all of his land into Defra’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme this year because at least that way, he will receive a guaranteed income of £853/ha.

“I have been told that if that land, which has now gone in with an AHL2 Winter Bird Food Seed, gets flooded, I will still get paid because it will be considered as a force majeure, but I would have to re-establish any damaged area,” he said. “That’s my most productive land and yet I can’t farm it.”

Mr Ward is one of dozens of farmers still waiting for promised flood recovery money from Defra’s Farming Recovery Fund, a £50m pot which has so far not been allocated.

Frustrated by the “radio silence” from Defra on the future of this fund, he fears the government could choose to allocate the money elsewhere to bridge gaps in public funding.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said many farmer-members had spent money repairing flood-damaged land to plant crops this autumn, but it was “disgraceful” that the promised grant funding, worth up to £25,000 per individual farm, had not yet been delivered.

The NFU has also told Farmers Weekly it is “very concerned” about the current state of flood protection in Lincolnshire.

It says 11 out of 13 riverbank breaches caused by the winter floods have been repaired in the county, but two have not, and it fears temporary repairs such as sand bags and sheeting will not hold.

The Farming Recovery Fund provides farmers with grants of up to £25,000 to return their land to the condition it was in before it was damaged by water caused by high river flooding from Storms Babet (19 to 25 October 2023) and Henk (2 to 12 January 2024) or exceptional rainfall in the period October 2023 to March 2024.

Defra response

Defra says all farmers eligible for the initial Farm Recovery Fund set up in April have all been offered payment. Farmers Weekly understands this amounts to about £2m of the £50m funding pot.

Defra minister Baroness Hayman is expected to make an announcement on the fund shortly.

A Defra spokesperson said: “Flooding devastates communities, homes, businesses and livelihoods, and we recognise the impact that they have had on farmers and rural communities. 

“More must be done to protect farmers’ businesses and homes. That is why the government is working at pace to accelerate the building of flood defences through our new Flood Resilience Taskforce, which representatives of the farming sector have an active role in.”