Philippe Merot and Anne Monchy, from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), visited the Eden catchment and Lancaster University on the 26th and 27th of November 2012.
Philippe, a senior scientist at INRA, works with the impact of agriculture on soil and water resources, and is also involved in the environmental assessment of farming activities. He trained as a hydrologist and is in charge of an observatory of research in the environment. Anne is in charge of a project whose objective is a national reflection on the use of research observatories in farming areas, in the framework of operational water management.
Their visit to the Eden was due to their interest in the idea of a demonstration catchment within an agricultural area as a way of improving the relationship between agriculture and the environment. The Monday was spent visiting some monitoring sites within the catchment, and thanks to heavy rain and high river levels, various pressures in the catchment were highlighted, and a good demonstration of overland flow was evident. The second day was spent at Lancaster University, where Dr Faye Outram (Wensum Alliance), Professor Adrian Collins (Hampshire AvonDTC), members of the EdenDTC and colleagues at Lancaster University presented work being done in various catchments. Many thanks go to all who attended, contributed and helped make the visit a success.
