Irrigation & Irrigation Lagoons
From unprecedented wet weather to drought conditions, farms need to become resilient to ensure that they can minimise the impact of changing weather patterns on land. With evidence of increased extreme weather events having detrimental impact on farm businesses already, putting in mitigating steps now can help cope with the extremes of tomorrow.
Moving forward, it is expected that summers are more likely to become drier, while winters become wetter. This could lead to issues with crop and soil health during summer months as there will be less available water during dry periods.
Irrigation Options for Your Farm in a Changing Climate
Ensuring that you have the most appropriate irrigation systems to suit your business now could help improve water availability and utilisation in the coming years.
Irrigation and Organic Matter
Although Scotland is easily considered a 'wet country', water availability cannot be guaranteed. In this time of a changing climate, farmers and land managers need to incorporate management techniques and systems to help improve water availability when needed. An important area to take into account when incorporating these techniques into your farm is the quality of irrigation and organic matter in your soil. This article will take you through the fundamentals along with further resources.
Soil Moisture Monitoring: Technology for Modern Irrigation Management
This article provides an overview of soil monitoring technologies for farmers and growers, including a practical look at the main options and key factors to consider when deciding on what may suit your business.
Managing Natural Resources: Irrigation Lagoons
As our climate changes and we experience more extreme weather patterns, becoming more resilient and efficient with water use on farm can be critical to managing drier spells on your land. In this video we discuss installing irrigation lagoons, which can help store water during on farm to then be used during dry periods. Watch here >>
Managing Natural Resources: Irrigation Lagoon Funding
The Agri Environment Climate scheme has opened for a new round of applications with some revised grant rates for irrigation lagoons. In this video Craig Bothwell gives an overview of the funding rates and the requirements needed to put in an application for grant support. Watch here >>
Case Study - Bankhead Farm: How an Irrigation Lagoon Boosted Resilience & Biodiversity
Gavin Struthers of Bankhead Farm takes us through the process of creating an irrigation lagoon on his farm – from site selection, design and planning through to construction, costs and the benefits it provides to the farm. This has helped build resilience, reduced the reliance on other water sources and has become a great habitat for wildlife. Watch here >>
Sign up to the FAS newsletter
Receive updates on news, events and publications from Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service