Anglian Water and Severn Trent have joined forces to offer farmers match-funding to protect rivers and the environment as part of their Get River Positive campaign commitments.
The companies said the programme has the potential to deliver enhancements over 62,000 hectares of land in Severn Trent’s catchment and more than 10,000 hectares across Anglian’s region.
The programme is designed to encourage land managers to adopt regenerative farming practices and environmentally friendly approaches that could reduce agricultural carbon emissions by at least 20%.
Liv Garfield, chief executive of Severn Trent, said: “We’re passionate about making a positive impact on the communities and the environment where we live and work. We’re investing £100 million a year as part of our Get River Positive commitments to go even further in improving rivers so that nature can continue to thrive.”
The Get River Positive pledges include supporting others to improve and care for rivers, which has inspired this initiative. Garfield added: “Agriculture and land management are the biggest contributors to rivers not achieving good ecological status, so we are redoubling our efforts to help farmers to care for rivers.”
The scheme includes funding for projects to improve water quality, tree planting and provision of green financing to incentivise regenerative farming practices.
In Severn Trent’s region, a tree planting scheme will fully fund the planting and maintenance of trees for 35 years after which time landowners will have the option to keep or sell the residual carbon credits.
To support further regenerative farming investment, both companies are offering partnerships to work with Agreena and NatWest to transition to and invest in sustainable farming options.
Peter Simpson, Anglian chief executive, added: “Farming has a big impact on water quality, and like us, farmers need healthy rivers and a sustainable supply to help manage their land and businesses. This is especially true in our region, the breadbasket of the UK. The East of England’s Fens alone have more than half the UK’s most fertile land, with agriculture providing a fifth of the nation’s crops and a third of its vegetables.”