Farming & Water Scotland

Exciting news - only a few weeks til we visit Mains Farm, Eaglesham with SEPA and @alexclarkpirie.bsky.social from SAC Consulting. We'll look at ditches and dredging on farm, what to be mindful of, and when to speak to SEPA. See flyer for details @sacconsulting.bsky.social @scottishepa.bsky.social

Sign up

We are putting together our Farming and Water Scotland newsletter with info on an up and coming event looking at practical things you can do to manage on-farm drainage – sign up via our website or at shorturl.at/z4cFS to receive your copy.

Rural Roundup - New Regulations for Applying Waste to Land | FAS Welcome back to the Rural Round-up. On today’s episode George Chalmers and Mary-Jane Lawrie highlight what’s happening in Scottish agriculture and are then joined by Peter Lang from SEPA to…

November sees the introduction of new Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations (EASR) which could affect those applying waste to land to improve soils. Our colleagues over at FAS have produced an informative Podcast. There's more information on the SEPA website

Managing Water Margins - Farming and Water Scotland How we manage land can have a big impact on surrounding water quality.  Spreading operations and unchecked livestock access to burns and rivers have the potential to pollute watercourses with…

Are you keeping 2m buffers around watercourses for cross compliance or wider as an EFA (Ecological Focus Area as part of the Greening rules under the Basic Payment Scheme)? Either way, buffers can protect water quality. We’ve more info in managing water margins at

Priority Catchment Inspections As part of Scotland’s targeted approach to reduce pollution risk, work is underway in a number of ‘priority catchments’. The priority catchments contain some...

Not sure what to expect at a Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) Priority catchment inspection? SEPA and Scotland's Farm Advisory Service (FAS) put together a series of helpful information videos. Watch at

Still needing to collect soil samples for analysis? There’s a nice ‘how to’ reminder in the Valuing Your Soils Brochure Field Sheets at shorturl.at/UlKO4

Another round of Scottish Government Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) funding for 2026 has been announced. No firm detail as yet, but previous measures included support ranging from floodplain management to irrigation lagoons. Announcement at

Valuing your soils - Farming and Water Scotland The "Valuing Your Soils", booklet and supporting information has been produced to help Scottish farmers, crofters, and land managers protect.

How are other farmers managing their soils? See hints, tips and ideas in the Valuing Your Soils brochure, download at

Can you confidently 'hand-texture' your soils? Want a reminder? See the Valuing Your Soils brochure . Download at www.farmingandwaterscotland.org/soil-nutrien...

Back in July, we caught up with SEPA’s Pete Wright plus Sally MacKenzie and Malcolm Smith from cairngormsnews.bsky.social to talk about the water scarcity situation. If you missed it, watch at
www.farmingandwaterscotland.org/resource/water-scarcity-impact-and-mitigation-measures-scotland/

Data from the Met office shows a mixed picture of rainfall across Scotland (and the UK) over the summer months when compared to the 1991-2020 average. You can read their weather and climate summaries at www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/cli...

Improving Soils and Preventing Runoff and Erosion Through Tramline Management - Farming and Water Scotland Tramlines are a major diffuse pollution pathway. Controlled traffic farming (CTF) systems reduce soil damage, can increase yield and save both fuel and time.

Tramline management can protect farm soils and reduce runoff; we have an informative slide set with some different machinery options. Take a look at

Know The Rules - Farming and Water Scotland Following an update to the Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR), the majority of rules around slurry and silage handing and storage.

Plenty of field work going on right now. Remember to keep 2m back from surface water, wetlands or shorelines. More detail in our Know the Rules Factsheet 11; series available at www.farmingandwaterscotland.org/know-the-rules/

Thinking about gold panning? You better get a move on. Good practice requires that gold panning actives shouldn’t be carried out between 1st October and 31st May where fish are present to protect spawning and emergence. See SEPAs position on gold panning shorturl.at/27y3T
[Pic from pixabay.com]

SEPA release their Water Scarcity Reports on a Thursday. Read the latest updates beta.sepa.scot/water-scarci...

Pond creations on farms - Farming and Water Scotland Ponds can offer an array of benefits to farms, from prevention of soil erosion and water retention to provide key habitats for biodiversity.

We heard from SAC Consulting's Harry Fisher about some of the benefits of pond creation and how it's a win-win, providing both an asset for the farm and haven for biodiversity. You can read more at bit.ly/44WLW28
@sacconsulting.bsky.social
@scottishepa.bsky.social

Maintenance of field drainage systems, including any work to remove sediments, vegetation or debris from a field drain or completely man-made ditch can be done at any time without contacting SEPA. See Know the Rules factsheet 14 bit.ly/3UKByEt
@scottishepa.bsky.social
@sacconsulting.bsky.social

Podcast Archives - Farming and Water Scotland The Farming and Water Scotland initiative helps farmers and land managers keep on the right side of the diffuse pollution regulations.

Fancy a new podcast? From riparian planting, to use of digestate, to IPM, we’ve chatted to a range of farmers, regulators, Agric technical specialists and consultants. Take a look at our podcast page at tinyurl.com/23z5ex5z

@sacconsulting.bsky.social
@scottishepa.bsky.social

Livestock crossing points can reduce poaching, erosion and subsequent and loss of land. You can install a minor bridge across a watercourse without contacting SEPA – read more in our Crossing Points Know the Rules guide tinyurl.com/w6byk7mb

@sacconsulting.bsky.social
@scottishepa.bsky.social

For those of you who like a good flow diagram on a Friday, here is the most recent Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet. It looks at all the flows of nitrogen in Scotland from across the whole economy. You can read more at www.gov.scot/publications...

A Recap on Ammonia in Agriculture - Farming and Water Scotland Ammonia, causes great impact to the natural environment & human health. 87% of the UK’s ammonia emissions is associated with agriculture.

SAC Consulting's Freya Lance gave us a recap on ammonia in agriculture; read more in our summer newsletter at www.farmingandwaterscotland.org/resource/amm...
@sacconsulting.bsky.social @scottishepa.bsky.social

PEPFAA Code - Farming and Water Scotland Farming and Water Scotland - PEPFAA (Prevention of Environmental Pollution From Agricultural Activity) Code of Good practice

Looking for the PEPFAA code? Offers practical ideas to comply with environmental pollution regulations and benefit the farm business. Read on our website www.farmingandwaterscotland.org/pepfaa-code-of-good-practice/
@sacconsulting.bsky.social
@scottishepa.bsky.social

Farming & Water Scotland - Farming and Water Scotland The Farming and Water Scotland initiative helps farmers and land managers keep on the right side of the diffuse pollution regulations, reduce diffuse pollution risks and benefit the farm business.

Did you receive our quarterly newsletter? If not, you can sign up on our webpage and view past issues in our resources section. www.farmingandwaterscotland.org/

We met Alex Pirie (SAC Consulting), Struan Candlish (Ayrshire Rivers Trust) & Alan Kettle-White (Argyll Fisheries Trust) on Arran, to talk protection of riverbanks, drainage and bank stabilisation at Bridge Farm with hosts Colin & Laura Currie.
@alexclarkpirie.bsky.social @sacconsulting.bsky.social

Securing your Water Supply with Boreholes and Lagoons | Helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service Scotland's water is one of the country's greatest assets. The supply of clean water to Scotland is valued at £228 million, however, this is threatened by

The dry weather has prompted an increased interest in boreholes. FAS have written a piece on securing your water supply with boreholes and lagoons, read it here
www.fas.scot/article/securing-your-water-supply-with-boreholes-and-lagoons/

Future Farm Investment Scheme full guidance The Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) is a capital grant scheme designed to help eligible active farmers and crofters improve the environmental performance of their agricultural business in…

The Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) offers grants from £5k to £20k depending on farm size, to improve environmental performance. Supports items such as irrigation controllers for rain guns to slurry separators. It closes on 22 Aug, so be quick!
www.ruralpayments.org/topics/all-s...

Its Farm Safety Week! From pre-harvest checks to working with slurry, the Yellow Wellies Little Book of Farm Safety gives lots of practical reminders around routine, day to day activities. It’s well worth a look.
Read at www.yellowwellies.org/resources

Water Scarcity: Impact and mitigation measures in Scotland - Farming and Water Scotland Learn from experience and expertise from SEPA and Cairngorms National Park on how land managers can cope with water scarcity in Scotland.

We visited the River Spey Catchment to hear how organisations are working together during this period of water scarcity to support the River, wildlife, agriculture and businesses that rely on it. Watch at shorturl.at/Kul3K
Cairngormsnews.bsky.social
scottishepa.bsky.social

29 May 2025 | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency SEPA is the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Our role is to make sure that the environment and human health are protected, to ensure that Scotland’s natural resources and services are used as…

Despite a bit of rain, over half of Scotland is still at alert or moderate water scarcity risk. Keep up to date with the changing picture via SEPA weekly water scarcity reports.

Facing tough droughts in 2025, NFFN farmers like Jack, Colin & Matthew are turning to nature-friendly solutions - from tree planting to soil regeneration - to stay resilient.

Working with nature is key to climate-ready farming. 👐

📖👉https://tinyurl.com/nh8edcsc