Developing the evidence base to describe the flood risk to agricultural in England and Wales

This project aimed to bring consistency to the evidence about how much farmland is at risk of flooding now and in the future, and how it’s currently protected.

• From: Environment Agency, Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research and Development Programme, and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 19 February 2021

• Category: Understanding risks from all sources of flooding
• Topics: Adaptation, Asset system optimisation, Climate change, Coastal erosion, Flood risk assessment, Hydrology, Natural capital, Natural flood management, Non-stationarity, Resilience planning, Sea level rise, Sustainability
• Project status: Completed
• Project code: FD2634
• Date of completion: 31 March 2010

Documents

Developing the evidence base to describe the flood risk to agricultural in England and Wales - technical report (2 MB) PDF

Developing the evidence base to describe the flood risk to agricultural in England and Wales - technical summary (44 KB) PDF

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Details

This project identified, assembled and checked sources of data and information about the risk of flood and coastal erosion to land used for farming in England and Wales. It also used the data to create a method of describing this risk that can be used consistently to develop a clear picture. This addressed the lack of consistent basic statistics, such as the total area and grade of farmland that is at flood risk. It also looked at how it’s currently protected, and whether it will be affected by the effects of climate change.

Managing flood risk, or reducing the amount of investment required for flood / sea defences by creating flood storage areas on agricultural land, may be strongly opposed by the farming industry. This may also include people concerned about national food security. The traditional approach to managing flood risk has directly or indirectly protected farmland through dredging and clearing rivers, and building pumping stations in low-lying land.

This project was started in 2009 and completed in 2010 at a cost of £62,703.

Published 19 February 2021