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Watercress & Chalk Stream Headwaters

Watercress & Chalk Stream Headwaters. Charles Barter Chairman, NFU Watercress Association 13 June 2007. NFU Watercress Association. Formed in 1936 under the Hertfordshire branch of the NFU Objective is to regulate, protect and promote the watercress industry Watercress Festival. History.

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Watercress & Chalk Stream Headwaters

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  1. Watercress & Chalk Stream Headwaters Charles Barter Chairman, NFU Watercress Association 13 June 2007

  2. NFU Watercress Association • Formed in 1936 under the Hertfordshire branch of the NFU • Objective is to regulate, protect and promote the watercress industry • Watercress Festival

  3. History • Watercress has been farmed commercially in England for almost 200 years • 2008 is the bi-centenary of the first commercial watercress farm • Watercress has been farmed from the Test & Itchen for over 150 years

  4. Abstraction or Augmentation? • All sites originally fed by natural springs or artesian boreholes • Lowering of groundwater by consumptive abstractions has led to a number of farms now incurring pumping costs • Outflows from watercress farms augment receiving waters

  5. The Rural Economy • Over 50% of UK watercress is grown in Hampshire on the headwaters of the Test & Itchen • The watercress industry is worth over £50m at retail • Over 500 rural jobs dependent on the industry

  6. Nature’s Superfood • More vitamin C than oranges; calcium than whole milk; iron than spinach etc • PEITC – confers unique and powerful anti-cancer properties to watercress • A real and significant impact upon the health of the nation

  7. Impact on Receiving Waters • Positive in terms of augmenting flow and decreasing nitrate load • Past concern re the industry’s use of pesticides, zinc and release of silt • Concern now focuses on phosphates

  8. Watercress and Phosphates • Groundwater contains insufficient P to grow watercress • Traditionally supplied by basic slag • Since mid 1980s supplied by slow release fertilisers such as Fibrophos

  9. NFU Watercress Growers’ Association has commissioned work by ADAS to identify and refine best practice use of phosphate fertilisers • The Association is re-writing its Code of Practice, incorporating phosphate control requirements

  10. Watercress and Invertebrates • Caddis and Gammarus thrive in undisturbed watercress beds • Repeat cropping / bed cleaning significantly reduces populations on and below farms • Work sponsored by Vitacress has clearly demonstrated the causal factor is the mustard oil, PEITC

  11. PEITC breaks down quickly. Most farms have settlement lagoons Farms without lagoons may need to consider reed beds / wetlands – await outcome of Pete Shaw’s work with interest

  12. Other Issues • Diverse Pollution • Effects caused by increasing number of swans • Overseas Watercress Production

  13. In Summary • Watercress farming is an historic and key element of the Test & Itchen’s upper headwaters • Watercress is important to the rural economy and to the health of the nation • Farmed responsibly watercress is an asset to the river system

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