William Hargreaves from Savills looks at the steps farmers and landowners can take to manage their water supply.

The last six months or so have been the driest in England since 1975/1976 – with East Anglia officially moved into drought status earlier this summer and our farmers and growers under incredible strain.

By 2050, total UK demand for water is projected to increase by up to 9%, while the amount of available water is expected to have declined by between 6-11%.

Arguably, the UK has more than enough water, but it’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. Flood management, water storage and controlled irrigation of crops are key factors in ensuring this precious resource is used wisely.

For farmers in counties like Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex the expectation that abstraction licences will be available for agricultural activity can no longer be assumed. Some have already been revoked and the Environment Agency is being challenged for not doing enough to protect wetland habitats.

There are significant merits in being able to access water on-farm for irrigation, including increasing productivity, enhancing business resilience and the potential uplift in value for land where water is available and irrigation infrastructure is in place.

The opportunities opened up by irrigation to grow higher-value produce, including field scale vegetable production, can result in material uplifts in land value in excess of £1,000 per acre, as well as having a predictable impact on potential rental values.

Encouragingly, the introduction of meaningful management of water resources has now climbed the political agenda. Earlier this year, the Farming Transformation Fund’s Water Management Grant was launched.

It offered support for projects that improve farm productivity through more efficient use of water – paying up to 40% of the costs for constructing water storage reservoirs, abstraction points, pumps and pipework to fill a reservoir.

Although applications are now closed for this year, some businesses may decide that investing in water management should still be done to protect their farms from future droughts.

However, as a cautionary note, although capital and revenue returns are improved by reservoir creation, the long payback means many businesses are not able to consider them and the tenanted sector in particular is excluded from switching to more sustainable water sources.

It is therefore critical that future funding for reservoir creation is delivered with adequate timescales to allow collaboration, planning and construction to take place to ensure this commitment to safeguarding one of our most precious resources continues.

For advice on the rural sector in Suffolk, contact William Hargreaves at Savills on 01473 234802 or WHargreaves@savills.com