Farmers react to EA’s ground cover rules breach claims

The Environment Agency (EA) has been accused of incompetence after a number of arable farmers received letters falsely accusing them of breaking the Farming Rules for Water.

The basis of the accusation in each case was that “during our remote inspection, which used satellite images, we identified fields that appeared to have been left lacking in vegetative cover”.

See also: Farming rules for water: What’s in store?

Under the Farming Rules for Water, growers are required to have established some kind of green cover by 15 October each year to “stabilise soil after harvest”.

This can take the form of an autumn-sown commercial crop, green manure or a cover crop. Failure to do so can lead to penalties.

Remote inspection 

One farmer who received one of these letters is Ally Hunter-Blair, who farms near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire.

He learned this week that an EA remote inspection on 22 November last year had identified two fields that appeared to be lacking the required vegetative cover.

While the EA did not threaten any disciplinary action, it did advise him to review the guidance and provide justification for the apparent lack of cover.

The EA said it would also conduct a further inspection this year to check compliance.

But Mr Hunter-Blair is adamant that the fields in question were definitely sown ahead of the 15 October deadline.

“Both fields were in winter wheat, which were planted at the end of September and beginning of October,” he told Farmers Weekly.

“It seems a bit odd as both fields were growing very nicely. Fortunately, I have photos of them. But it was quite an aggressive letter and very frustrating.”

Mr Hunter-Blair added that he was not against remote inspections per se, but was concerned by the apparent lack of accuracy and the fact it had taken the EA more than nine months to bring it to his attention.

Not alone

Having posted his concerns on X (formerly Twitter), it became clear that Mr Hunter-Blair was not the only one to have been falsely accused of rule breaking by the EA.

I've just received a letter from the EA saying that during a remote inspection on the 22/11/22 they identified two fields that "appear to be lacking in vegetative cover".
These are the same fields on the 4th November(last photo 5th October), they were both strip tilled with… pic.twitter.com/cFsAtfzJql

— Ally Hunter Blair (@Wyefarm) August 23, 2023

Mixed farmer Billy Lewis, from Dilwyn in Herefordshire, on X as @BoycefieldFarm, tweeted that he had received the same letter, despite having direct-drilled wheat into a mustard, buckwheat and phacelia catch crop in the first week of October. “Sounds like every other farm in our parish has had one,” he added.

And @amblingwarrior said he had received three such letters in relation to some of his fields.

“All were planted with wheat and oats in good time,” he tweeted. “Most worryingly was them claiming no ground cover on a second-year wild bird mix – the same wild bird mix that a neighbouring house was asking me to cut down as [it was] blocking the view.”

EA response

In response, the EA explained that it was trialing new technologies – such as remote sensing, Earth observation and artificial intelligence – to “improve the enforcement of regulation”, while also freeing up staff resources on the ground.

The images had been captured in November 2022 by the Sentinal 2 satellite, which passes over the UK twice a week, with a focus on farms in the sensitive River Wye catchment.

EA staff had started processing the data in the spring of 2023, and farmers were being contacted now, to allow them to plan ground cover for the coming drilling season.

“These letters are advisory and focused on helping farmers to comply with regulations, and are clear that no further action is being taken,” said a spokesman.