It was no surprise when the Met Office revealed we had endured the wettest February since at least 1836 when or that the first dozen days in March had already seen a month’s rainfall in some areas of southern England.

I have been travelling the rural landscape of this region for many years but this year it looks even more different than usual after prolonged rain.

Winterbournes are a feature of our countryside - streams and rivulets that come only in the wet season, usually winter and hence the name. There was a skill to managing them, the water employed to flood meadows in such a way it protected the grass from the coldest weather and gave an early start to providing pasture for livestock.

There are still places where the old systems can be seen. I know of one village at least where the winter sluices were also used to create a summer plunge pool for children until quite late in the 20th Century. Drive west of Stonehenge on the A303 and as you pass the eastern boundary of Winterbourne Stoke (the clue is in the name!) the network for managing the water is there to see.

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These days the waters are more destructive, laying waste to the crops they overwhelm, driving up the cost of cultivation at a time when world grain prices are low and making British farmers fight even harder to shift their produce.

Hampshire Chronicle:

We all see the effect in the number of tankers water companies are using to drain excess surface water from the sewers to keep it from overflowing into streams and rivers wherever possible. It's a huge and costly effort that will be reflected in our bills and uses money that would have been better spent on upgrading infrastructure. Maybe farmers wondering how to boost their incomes should get involved in tanker rental!

While we swerve the potholes left in flooded roads, do spare a thought for farmers. I know we agricultural folk always have something to say about the weather but these Biblical floods are way beyond what we have ever managed although I suspect coping with them will be part of regular crop planning from now on. The countryside may look quite different in summer, too, as we plant wet-loving plants never seen before.

A newcomer we all may learn to recognise could be miscanthus, a wet-loving plant that is now in growing demand for anaerobic digestion (AD), the fermentation process that results in gas given off to add to the network or to be burned to create electricity.

As the market for electric cars grows, there will be a need to deliver more charging stations. One way to do this where the electricity grid is out of reach, is to have local solar or AD plants feeding directly into charging stations in the next field. The developments in battery storage may also assist such schemes where some of the power produced can be stored until needed on site. Enterprising farmers and service station operators are already researching these possibilities in a flood of inspiration so they can lead the charge towards net zero for transport.

As it has done continuously since we moved from being hunter gatherers, from the wheel and plough to the loom, progress in technology will shape the way we manage land and the way our countryside looks in the future.

 

Kevin Prince has wide experience of farming and rural business in Hampshire, where he lives near Andover, and across southern England as a director in the Adkin consultancy. His family also run a diversified farm with commercial lets, holiday cottages and 800 arable acres.