The chair of the environment watchdog has ordered farmers to clean up their act on river pollution, telling them it is time to “take their medicine”.
Alan Lovell, chair of the Environment Agency for England, told the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) on Tuesday that pollution from agriculture and rural land is “roughly equal [to] that coming from the water industry”.
Mr Lovell told the annual NFU conference: “Let’s clear out these pollution incidents and do it better.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The chair of the environment watchdog has ordered farmers to clean up their act on river pollution, telling them it is time to “take their medicine”.
Alan Lovell, chair of the Environment Agency for England, told the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) on Tuesday that pollution from agriculture and rural land is “roughly equal [to] that coming from the water industry”.
It comes amid widespread public outcry over the state of the nation’s waterways, with water companies and farms leaking sewage, fertilisers and manure into rivers, lakes and coastlines.
The farms help feed Britain’s growing appetite for eggs, which rose by 12% in one year in 2022, according to environment department (Defra) data.
She said farmers need better access to subsidies - known as the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) - to create buffer strips along waterways.
The NFU is currently resisting a legal attempt by campaigners to force the Environment Agency to become more strict with water pollution rules for farmers.
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