Groundswell 2023

Last week Simon, James, Sophie and Ellie from the catchment team headed up to Hertfordshire to attend the premier regenerative agricultural conference - Groundswell! This is a two-day event featuring talks, forums and discussions from leading international soil health experts, experienced arable and livestock farmers, agricultural policy experts, direct-drill demonstrations and AgTech innovators.

This was a great opportunity for us to learn from some great speakers about a variety of agricultural topics and to also meet with farmers to talk to them about their experiences of regenerative agriculture. In particular it was very useful to hear updates from Defra about their new and improved Environmental Land Management Schemes, such as SFI and Elms, so we have up to date advice to give to farmers! This was swiftly followed by an insightful panel with representatives from three political parties, communicating their stance on food, farming, nature and climate goals!

There were also lots of demonstrations to see. James particularly enjoyed the rainfall simulation by Affinity Water, seeing the drastic effect rainfall can have on soils under different management schemes

Overall we had a great time, sparking lots of interesting conversation and prompting us to think about how we can improve the advice we provide to farmers and other landowners to best protect the water supply now, and also for generations to come.