Under the riparian buffer strip measure, grant funding is available for fencing alongside watercourses.
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The area of land that must be fenced off as part of one of the measures within Farming with Nature (FwN) has led some applicants to pull out of the scheme.
Under the riparian buffer strip measure, grant funding is available for fencing alongside a watercourse if the fence is at least 2m from the edge of a watercourse.
However, if it is a “designated watercourse” then the minimum buffer zone width increases to 7m, plus a gate and two posts are required every 150m to allow access for maintenance.
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Designated watercourses are maintained by the Rivers Agency and the latest figures from 2022 suggest over 6,800km of watercourses are designated in NI.
In one particular example, a group of neighbouring farmers who all applied for the 2m riparian strip, later learned that the watercourse in question is designated, so the buffer zone must be at least 7m wide.
“There is no way I can give up that area of land. Have the department any idea how much land costs these days? We are all pulling out of the scheme and will fence it ourselves in the spring,” one of the farmers told the Irish Farmers Journal.
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The area of land that must be fenced off as part of one of the measures within Farming with Nature (FwN) has led some applicants to pull out of the scheme.
Under the riparian buffer strip measure, grant funding is available for fencing alongside a watercourse if the fence is at least 2m from the edge of a watercourse.
However, if it is a “designated watercourse” then the minimum buffer zone width increases to 7m, plus a gate and two posts are required every 150m to allow access for maintenance.
Designated watercourses are maintained by the Rivers Agency and the latest figures from 2022 suggest over 6,800km of watercourses are designated in NI.
In one particular example, a group of neighbouring farmers who all applied for the 2m riparian strip, later learned that the watercourse in question is designated, so the buffer zone must be at least 7m wide.
“There is no way I can give up that area of land. Have the department any idea how much land costs these days? We are all pulling out of the scheme and will fence it ourselves in the spring,” one of the farmers told the Irish Farmers Journal.
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