A FIRST of its kind study into the economic cost to farmers of soil erosion is being carried out at Worcester University.
Soil washed away on farmland by rainfall can have dire consequences for farmers and for the environment.
As a result, researchers at the university are using the latest drone technology to establish the extent of this erosion, its impact and therefore the potential cost to farmers.
Josie Lynch and Prof Ian Maddock, from the university’s school of science and the environment. will use the drones to photograph farmers’ land and then create high resolution 3D models, enabling them to work out how much soil has been eroded from a field.
Laboratory testing of soil samples at each site will provide data on the nutrients lost associated with that soil erosion and that will allow them to calculate the economic cost of replacing these nutrients with additional fertiliser.
The researchers are taking part in a collaborative project with Natural England for the 18-month study, which is being conducted initially on four farms in the Worcestershire and Shropshire region, though it is hoped that it could be extended in the future.
The project results will support Natural England’s Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative that involves working with farmers to produce food in a way that protects water, air and soil.
Ms Lynch, a part-time research assistant and part-time PhD student at the university, is lead investigator on the research.
She said: “We’re going to develop a model that will provide us with detailed information of what’s going on in the fields in terms of how much soil is being lost and the cost of that to farmers. I hope that this can be rolled out more widely. If we can reduce soil erosion, it’s going to save farmers money as well as having a benefit to the environment.”
Prof Maddock added: “Previous research has calculated soil erosion with drones, but hasn’t gone on to test the soil, look at the nutrients in the soil, put an economic value on that based on this and worked out the fertiliser cost to replace what is washed away in soil erosion.”
