FWAG South East Cluster Groups

Arun to Adur Farmers Group

The Arun to Adur Farmers Group was formed in 2015 and is located between the River Arun and River Adur in West Sussex. The group’s habitats range from chalk downland to river valley floodplains.

The Arun to Adur has 38 members covering 10, 896ha.

The group has six chosen target species to focus on, species include Lapwing, Corn Bunting, Grey Partridge, Duke of Burgundy, Water Vole, and uncommon arable plants such as Rough Poppy, Fumitory spp and Cornflower.

Over the last few years, the group has completed training courses on their chosen target species, instigated a survey of breeding waders along the River Arun and delivered a soil health management project which will help influence land management practices in the future.

The soil management project, delivered through agronomist Stephen Woodley and Southern Water, is a 5-year project, started in 2017 and is studying the benefits of organic matter, water quality and soil biodiversity through different management techniques, with the aim to produce comparable data which can be used by farmers and agronomists to improve soil health.

The Arun to Adur Farmers Group and the Eastern South Downs Farmers Group have also developed a ‘Meet the Farmer’ project, which has recently won gold in the 2020 CPRE Sussex awards. The idea is to link the general public walking along a footpath with the farmer who manages the land they are walking through. This is done through NFC / QR codes displayed on posts along the footpath, which takes the viewer to a short video of the farmer, the wildlife and features seen on that farm.

Examples can be seen here: https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/watch-meet-farmers-care-national-park/

CPRE Gold Award Certificate

View Arun to Adur Booklet here

Website page: http://southdownsfarming.com/arun-to-adur/

Fallow Plot, Arun to Adur group

FWAG South East LLP
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