Collaborative Agreement relating to Buffer Strips and Burr Reeds (Engagement)

• The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT) will recruit a dedicated Farm Engagement Officer who will engage as many farmers as possible in the catchment, to build relationships with them, and will help them to collaborate with each other through establishment of a farmer cluster that can be sustained beyond the end of this project. • YWT will develop existing farmer relationships to create examples of good practice that deliver environmental benefits and improve farm business security. The examples will create the basis for peer-to-peer learning. • YWT will develop a delivery plan for physical interventions on participating farms where these can deliver WFD benefits and deliver these in partnership with farmers, using funding from the Agency and where possible by sourcing external match funding. • The Agency will deliver complimentary physical interventions on Beverley and Barmston Drain to improve depth and flow – including de-silting and vegetation removal. • The project will deliver a catchment with more sustainable land management, better able to cope with extreme weather events and reduce the negative effects of flood and drought on farm businesses and the environment. The improved habitats and water quality will help to deliver an improvement in the Water Framework Directive (WFD) status of Beverley and Barmston Drain.