Holding back the floods

GROWERS and machinery manufacturers have a part to play in controlling flooding in the future, it has been claimed.

Professor Jane Rickson, Professor of Soil Erosion and Conservation and an honorary Fellow of the Institution of       
Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE), says soil damage from harvesting and field operations when fields are too wet increases surface water runoff and risks of flooding. 

She said more focus needs to be put on agricultural engineering to design, build and test better land management systems that control flooding at its source. This includes low-impact machinery, cover cropping, reduced tillage and controlled-traffic operations. 

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