The Wider Value of Farming and Agricultural Business in the Alt & Crossens Catchment
Overview
The catchment area is 39,600 Ha and there are 435 registered agricultural holdings. There are a
greater overall number of holdings however unregistered holdings are not usually commercial
enterprises, favouring a more environmentally focused approach, e.g. Martin Mere which is run by
the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.
The foresight Land Use futures Project (2010) from the Government Office for Science in London
states; ‘It is important to maintain critical capacity in high quality farmland and the physical
infrastructure that supports it such as land drainage systems. These are important strategic assets
that are likely to increase in value but be subject greater risk in the advent of climate change and
increased global demand for food and energy. It will be necessary to recognise and reward the
multiple roles of agriculture not only as a producer of food but also as a provider of many other
wider ecosystem services which because they are non-priced ‘public goods’ can go un-recognised
and un-rewarded. These include climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration, flood risk
management, protection of bio-diversity and recreation. These multiple benefits must be realised
through new adaptive technologies and systems of governance including incentives for low carbon
agriculture’.
Currently the catchment provides all of the above recognised and non-recognised goods however
should the drainage systems not continue to be maintained and even improved to accommodate
both current and future water levels the value of the growing land and that which delivers the wider
scope of benefits will be lost.
The Environment Agency commissioned Arup Jacobs to produce an agricultural context report on
the Alt and Crossens Catchment. The draft report (unpublished, March 2011) confirmed the
inadequacy and inefficiency of the current drainage maintenance. It concluded that more frequent
de-silting of the drainage system would improve drainage, reduce pumping requirements and costs
and provide additional water storage for irrigation in dry periods.
Production
The Alt and Crossens catchment is approximately 60% Grade 1 & 2 agricultural land, the most
productive and fertile land, compared with 16.9 % of England as a whole.
There are some 2,787Ha of land under vegetable production which produces an average of 80,000
to 100,000 tonnes of vegetables annually. This is based on average yield of 30 tonnes per Ha from
the Defra 2010 census.
The Office of National Statistics quotes that the UK self-sufficiency in agriculture has reduced since
1988 by some 11% and production of indigenous food has also decreased by 9% over the previous
22 years. This decrease is not entirely attributable to lack of drainage and maintenance of the
infrastructure although it is doubtless a contributor in this region.
Plant propagation is also classified as agriculture and West Lancashire is home to a number of sites
that grow bedding and other plants under glass. One of the UK’s leading plant growers, wholesalers
and contract growers is producing over 65 million bedding, alpine and flowering bulb pot plants each
year.
Today modern agriculture is under considerable pressure. It is being shaped by unique political and
economic constraints and is expected not only to produce good quality (some of the highest
standards in the EU) low cost food but also to sensitively manage the landscape and wildlife whilst
providing a landscape for the public to enjoy recreationally.
Diversification may be an option for farms within the sector but it is questionable how many forms
of on farm diversification would also be viable without a continued and improved drainage regime.
Employment
In terms of employment the 2010 Defra food and farming statistics estimate a total Lancashire
workforce (specifically farmers, managers, employees and casual labour) of some 9,900 people. This
represents about 3.4% of employment in England.
The agricultural sector supports considerable employment in off-farm supply industries including
produce packaging; haulage; agricultural machinery manufacture, machinery servicing and agrichemicals. In business terms it has been a stable sector with high business survival.
Flood Risk
Within the catchment there are significant urban areas, NE Liverpool, Maghull, Knowsley, Southport,
Formby and Ormskirk as well many dispersed settlements. The significant volume of urban coverage
adds to the drainage demand and reduces pressure on the combined sewerage and urban run-off
systems currently operated by United Utilities and private individuals. Because the topography and
layout of the catchment is so unique it is doubtful whether or not the long term benefits gained by
having had an effective managed and pumped drainage system has been recognised and therefore
the need to maintain and in some instances improve it is not at the fore of the population’s
awareness.
If the system were to deteriorate further or even become unviable the pressures added to both
public and private sewerage systems would become untenable and add to the already high levels of
phosphate pollution in the catchment which has been linked to the high number of sewerage works
and outfalls already in place.
Clearly if the weather patterns continue to create more rainfall and the population continues to
increase this pressure in this respect will only grow.
Lancashire also has a long coast and the highest recorded storm tides reach 7.6 metres. Much of the
coastal and low lying areas would be regularly flooded if it were not for an elaborate system of
coastal defences. The danger of flooding is particularly acute when a high tide coincides with high
run-offs from land.
Conclusion
It is hoped that through the efforts and buy-in of all member of the Alt Crossens Advisory Group a
workable solution can be found. Without that solution to support pumped drainage, maintenance of
important habitats and the long term future of food production on much of the high quality
agricultural land of Alt Crossens Catchment would be severely compromised if not impossible.