FWAG South East Cluster Groups

Rother Valley Farmers Group

The Rother Valley Farmers Group was formed in 2017 and the Arun and Rother River Trust (ARRT) oversee the facilitation of the group. The group is located along the River Rother between Petersfield and Pulborough and habitats include arable farmland, floodplain grassland and woodland valleys.

The Rother Valley Farmers Group has 49 members over 11,000ha.

The group has chosen five target species to focus on, these are Lapwing, Yellowhammer, Barn Owl, Aquatic Invertebrates, and uncommon arable plants such as Cornflower, Corn Spurrey and Corn Marigold.

The group has completed a number of training sessions on their chosen target species and engaged with the local community as well as collectively reducing the amount of metaldehyde used in the area.

The Rother Valley Farmers are part of a Soil Health Project which is being funded by Southern Water and is delivered in partnership with agronomist Stephen Woodley and ARRT. The project is monitoring the health of soils on 4 farms over 5 years, studying a range of soil types including the Wealden clay and the greensand. The aim is to look at variations in soil nutrients, soil types and management techniques. Once completed this will aid future soil management in the area and can be joined with data from similar projects to create a valuable management tool for the South of England.

Website page: http://southdownsfarming.com/rother-valley-farmers-group/

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