A senior civil servant has said he has been heartened at the response of Scotland’s farming sector to tackling pollution.
Allan Virtue said the willingness of farmers themselves and industry leaders to resolving the problems of diffuse pollution, such as agricultural run-off, faecal contamination and nutrient leaching was good news for the Scottish environment.
He was speaking yesterday after the National Audit Office criticised England’s Environment Agency for not providing value for money with the £8million it has so far spent on dealing with the diffuse pollution problem, but with little impact to date.
An audit office report added: “Many farmers remain unconvinced of their contribution to the problem, so the Environment Agency should intensify its efforts to raise awareness and change behaviour among farmers.”
But Mr Virtue, the land policy manager with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, said Scotland was doing much more to raise awareness of the issues of agricultural pollution and the impact it was having on drinking water quality.
Fourteen priority river catchments for action had already been identified, including the Ugie, Dee and Deveron because of silt problems, faecal contamination and pesticide residues.
Mr Virtue said inspectors had in recent weeks visited all the problem areas along the rivers and identified various issues to be resolved by farmers, all of which will be discussed individually with them.
Poaching by livestock of river banks and the watercourses that feed into them is seen as a significant problem. So too is cultivating land too near watercourses. Industry is also likely to be asked to deal with problems caused by storing and applying fertiliser and agrochemicals incorrectly.
Mr Virtue said simple changes to farm management would resolve many of the problems. In others, more complex solutions may be required, particularly if it involves nutrients or chemical leaching into water.
He added: “I’ve been really, really encouraged by the support we are getting from the industry to this.”
Mr Virtue said that where investment was required farmers would be encouraged to apply to the Scottish rural development programme.
Changes are also being sought to it post-2013 so it better targets support to priority catchment areas.
NFU Scotland head of rural policy Jonnie Hall said farmers were already obliged to deal with diffuse pollution as part of the conditions imposed on them for receiving subsidies.
Considerable efforts have been made to raise awareness of diffuse pollution. Guidance had been published and training made available for farmers and land managers.
He added: “Early indications suggest that meeting all the requirements on diffuse pollution is challenging for farmers and future guidance is likely to focus on areas such as storage and application of fertilisers, keeping of livestock and cultivation of land.”
Mr Hall said a concern was that failing to deal with the diffuse pollution may only increase the calls for tougher regulations and their enforcement.