2 Farming in floodplains

Figure 2 Mowing the summer floodplain meadow for its hay.

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Red tractor with small cutter baling hay in the summer.

Figure 2 Mowing the summer floodplain meadow for its hay.

Floodplains have long been valued for their productivity. They are naturally fertile due to the deposition of nutrient-rich sediment during flood events. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are key plant nutrients that are present in river sediments.

Floodplains are often ‘sub-irrigated’; water from the river moves laterally through the well-structured soils, meaning they can continue to support plant growth during drought conditions.

You can learn more about how nutrients move through the system to produce hay in Session 6.

At the current time, floodplains are primarily used for food production, with approximately 70% of floodplain land in England and Wales used for arable or intensively managed grassland (see Table 1).

However, increased uncertainty of flooding makes tilling floodplain land for crops difficult, and there is a risk that land will be lost from food production altogether, damaging our food security. Climate models predict flood events will become more frequent with time, making some land uses unsustainable. Experience in Somerset, where prolonged deep flooding during the winter of 2013–14 led to extensive grass kill on re-seeded ryegrass leys, contrasted with traditional floodplain-meadow plant communities of RSPB’s West Sedgemoor nature reserve, which recovered to good condition within a matter of weeks after the floods had receded (Natural England et al., 2014).

Figure 3 Species rich floodplain meadow at West Sedgemoor, Somerset.

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A mix of grasses and herbs in a field.

Figure 3 Species rich floodplain meadow at West Sedgemoor, Somerset.

Can we farm in floodplains to produce food while simultaneously protecting and enhancing natural resources?