With weather extremes becoming increasingly common, food producers are being encouraged to store water during the wet winters to safeguard against possible summer droughts.
Andrew Spinks, an agricultural business consultant in the Norwich office of Brown&Co, said the government has announced another round of water management grants will be opened some time later this year - although the exact date is not yet known.
It is expected to fund 40pc of the cost of pipes, pumps and reservoirs, he added.
"My challenge with these schemes is always getting the planning and the irrigation licences in place to be able coincide with the grant," he said.
"It is worth anyone considering a project spending some time now and giving it some proper thought ahead of any grant window.
"A reservoir viewed from the point of view of return on investment is very long term, however as we see changes to water licencing over the next few years – which could mean that some farms lose their ability to irrigate - those without a reservoir could find themselves without water and really exposed to the vagaries of the changing climate."
Mr Spinks said he shared the frustrations of farmers who were not able to abstract flood waters this winter to store for use during dry summers - a concern which was put to Defra minister Mark Spencer at February's Norfolk Farming Conference.
Earlier this month, the Environment Agency (EA) released a Regulatory Position Statement, enabling existing abstraction licence holders to store flood waters for irrigation, outside the dates usually specified by their licences, when official flood alerts are in place.
This is subject to conditions including that abstractors must not "adversely affect or damage designated conservation sites".
George Gay, of Mautby Farms near Great Yarmouth, said conditions like this have prevented him from accessing irrigation water in the environmentally-sensitive Norfolk Broads - so he would not be able to make use of the new reservoir grants.
"It is very frustrating," he said. "We have not got irrigation at the moment, but we are trying to future-proof ourselves so we have applied a couple of times to get an abstraction licence, but our problem is we are next to Fleggburgh Common, which is a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest).
"Even if there is excess water in the system it is not easy to get permission to take it out."
Mr Spinks added that other available grant sources include the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund, Countryside Stewardship capital grants, and autonomous and robotic machinery grants which are generating a lot of interest from vegetable growers.
Meanwhile, he said options funded under the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) could also help manage water, improve soil and contribute to alleviating the impact of excess rainfall.
Winter deluge of rainfall prompts call for farmers to explore reservoir grants
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23.03.2024
With weather extremes becoming increasingly common, food producers are being encouraged to store water during the wet winters to safeguard against possible summer droughts.
Andrew Spinks, an agricultural business consultant in the Norwich office of Brown&Co, said the government has announced another round of water management grants will be opened some time later this year - although the exact date is not yet known.
It is expected to fund 40pc of the cost of pipes, pumps and reservoirs, he added.
"My challenge with these schemes is always getting the planning and the irrigation licences in place to be able coincide with the grant," he said.
"It is worth anyone considering a project........
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