SOUTH Lakeland farmers have been working innovatively to adapt their farms to cope with future flooding.

Twelve months on from the devastation caused by Storm Desmond, the NFU has led an investigation into the losses caused by the storm, and the measures put in place by their members to protect their land from water damage.

The organisation put the losses experienced by 144 farmers at a collective total of £1.7 million. Defra estimated that 650 Cumbria farms were affected by storm damage.

However, the full costs are expected to be far higher and will not be fully understood until all recovery work is completed.

Dairy farmer David Martin from the Lyth Valley, near Kendal, who has 220 dairy cows, has lived for most of 2016 in a caravan because of the water damage to his farmhouse and buildings caused by last December’s floods.

He can still vividly recount the shock as water quickly began pumping into the dairy parlour via the drain. He ended up milking in water up to his waist until he could block the drains and stop the flow.

As well as recovering from the extensive flood damage to his farm and home this last twelve months, Mr Martin has also been actively pressing for a new Internal Drainage Board (IDB) for his area.

The intention of setting up the IDB would be to gain responsibility of the pumps from which the Environment Agency is withdrawing. Mr Martin is willing to pay a substantial amount towards the IDB so they can keep the pumps running – this illustrates that farmers are willing to pay for the service.

Mr Martin said: “The drainage system was put in in 1984 and made a massive difference to the productivity of the valley.

“The businesses have grown to use that drainage. Without it business would have to down scale, productivity would be cut and jobs would be lost.”

Meanwhile, Derek Alderson of High Green, Middleton, near Kirkby Lonsdale, saw his farm flood when Stockdale Beck, which feeds into the River Lune, overflowed.

To future proof himself against potential future incidents, Mr Alderson commissioned hard engineering work, approved by the Environment Agency, which he hopes will keep the water at bay.

Engineer Derek Boustead has created a layered wall, where the beck meanders around the farm, using locally quarried limestone.

The wall resembles an amphitheatre and Mr Boustead estimates he used 450 tonnes of stone. in a pyramid system with 150 tonnes of clean walling stone, recycled from the flood damage, to sit behind it. The wall is now three metres in height.