Wye and Usk, UK: Water Roadmap Collective Action Project
Protecting food supply chains by restoring ecological health with producers, food and drink businesses and NGOs.
Food supply chains depend on healthy water systems. In the UK’s Wye and Usk catchments, rivers sit in a productive agricultural landscape that supplies poultry, potatoes and maize, as well as milk, sheep and cattle. Yet these rivers are facing ecological decline. The causes are complex, but land management practices are having the greatest impact and the declining river health is putting strain on one of the most important resources for agriculture and the ecosystems that surround them.
To restore the rivers in these rural catchments and protect water for food production, we're teaming up with food and drink businesses, producers, regulators and the Wye & Usk Foundation. As part of the UK Food and Drink Pact’s Water Roadmap, we’re focused on practical, evidence-led interventions to reduce pollution, strengthen land management and deliver better outcomes for nature and agriculture in this key food sourcing region.
Our impact in the Wye and Usk catchments 2023-2025
Download the Collective Action Project Impact Summary for Wye and Usk, UK
Social Impact
300+ producers engaged through farm plans and training
The project is building knowledge, skills and collaboration across the catchments to help food producers adopt practices that reduce pollution, protect the Wye and Usk rivers and build farm resilience.Image: The Wye & Usk FoundationEnvironmental Impact
430 hectares of maize undersown and 3 biodiversity-rich farm wetlands built
To protect long-term sourcing, these interventions, guided by new industry-approved Recommended Key Practices, are transforming land management - reducing runoff, improving water quality and retention, and restoring nature to secure crop yields and catchment health.Image: The Wye & Usk FoundationEconomic impact
£255k of further funding unlocked to expand water restoration activity
The project’s early success has attracted additional support for on-farm interventions and sustainable water management, further reducing operational risks for businesses sourcing from the catchment.Image: The Wye & Usk Foundation
Environmental Impact
Land management practices in these rural catchments are having the greatest impact on ecological health. To mitigate this, the Collective Action Project has funded equipment maintenance to undersow 430 ha of maize, which minimises soil disturbances and nutrient runoff after crops have been harvested and reduces diffuse pollution in the rivers from this high-risk crop.
Three new farm wetlands have also been built, each with 300 m² of planted pools and margins of native grasses and wildflowers – transforming unproductive farm areas into thriving habitats to help restore biodiversity. These wetlands retain water in the landscape (with one already saving 22,671 m3 per year), slow the flow of water to reduce water risk, trap excess farm nutrients before they enter the rivers, attract diverse species, and increase resilience to extreme weather events. Surveys in one area have shown that one recently constructed wetland pool had greater abundance and diversity of invertebrates than any other ponds in the parish.
Economic impact
The Collective Action Project in the Wye and Usk has attracted additional funding of £255,000, adding value to the contributions from Water Roadmap members and helping grow the impact of the project. This funding has enabled the project to develop the evidence base for nature-based solutions and work on regulatory challenges to their adoption. The project is also supporting the role out of a new field risk assessment tool, designed to help producers reduce the impact from high-risk crops like maize and potatoes.
By strengthening local capacity and enabling collective action, this additional funding combined with the investment from the Water Roadmap members is creating value for farmers and businesses, strengthening local capacity, and driving positive impacts on water quality and catchment health.
Driving system-wide action for resilient rivers and farms: Recommended Key Practices
A cornerstone of the Wye and Usk Collective Action Project, the Recommended Key Practices encourage producers to focus on those practices that have the greatest beneficial impact on the rivers, based on evidence. Developed in collaboration with businesses, regulators, and farmers, they act as a guiding light for driving positive change across the catchment.
Launched in 2025, the Recommendations give retailers and supply chain businesses a consistent source for advice on engaging their suppliers on improving water management practices in the catchments - such as preventing run-off from potato fields or managing excess manures and nutrients on poultry farms. They are recommendations, not requirements, and we are encouraging businesses to support producers increase their uptake over time. With businesses already doing this, using the solutions consistently will increase the adoption of farming practices that benefit both the environment and resilience of the food supply chain.
Project feature: Reducing water risk in the Wye and Usk poultry supply chains
See how partners in the project have collaborated to tackle excess nutrient and manure loads from poultry farms – cutting phosphorus surplus by 500 tonnes, supporting free-range egg producers with nutrient plans, and accessing funding for infrastructure improvements and nature-based solutions that are protecting river health and strengthening supply chains.
Why we’re working in the Wye and Usk catchments
The Wye and Usk catchments are essential for UK food production, but water quality pressures threaten both ecological health and long-term supply continuity. These challenges are well recognised by local stakeholders, with increasing regulatory scrutiny and high public concern raising both reputational and supply chain risks for food businesses.
Through this targeted Collective Action Project, we're bringing the supply chain together. Our collaboration is improving environmental flows, restoring biodiversity and safeguarding water quality, directly contributing to the Water Roadmap’s goal of restoring catchments to good ecological status and protecting water for food production.
"Water resource management is a very important area for our impact strategy. WRAP, the Wye & Usk Foundation and supporting the Water Roadmap has improved our understanding of the pressures water resources face. The project has allowed our business, retailers, regulators and the wider supply chain to take collaborative action to make a positive impact. Sharing best practice, facing into challenges as a collective, and using research and innovation, have and will continue to benefit the catchment and water resources more widely in the UK."
Where we're working in the Wye and Usk
Locally led,
nationally supported
Action to protect water in the Wye and Usk
Locally led delivery is central to this project. Through the UK Food and Drink Pact’s Water Roadmap, WRAP and food and drink businesses are funding and working with farmers, communities, and our local partner the Wye & Usk Foundation to safeguard water for food production and improve ecological status across the catchment.
WRAP brings together a broader range of stakeholders through the Roundtable of the Wye Agri Food Partnership, funded by Defra. The Roundtable provides a neutral platform for private, public and civil society sectors to communicate and collaborate on project initiatives. It played a key consultation role in developing the Recommended Key Practices, ensuring input shaped practical, catchment-wide solutions for sustainable water management.
"Challenges to the health of our rivers that relate to the food system must not be left to farmers and growers to address on their own. Collaboration is key. This project has enabled us to bring together… businesses and regulators to achieve recognition of the challenges that need to be addressed, and to agree positive actions. We are so very grateful for the opportunity that this project provides and the support that we receive from WRAP and our funders"
Help restore and protect water for food production
Join the Water Roadmap
The Wye and Usk catchments are vital to UK food production and natural ecosystems. Continued collaboration across food businesses, local partners and farmers is essential to secure long-term improvements in water quality and catchment resilience. We invite every business that sources and benefits from the region to step up, champion water stewardship across their supply chains, and support the next phase of this Collective Action Project.
In partnership with our Collective Action Project funders for the Wye and Usk:
- Arla
- Avara
- Lidl
- Marks and Spencer
- Noble Foods
- Sainsbury’s
- Tesco
- Waitrose
All Water Roadmap workstreams also benefit from the generous support and collaboration from the Retail Leadership Commitment businesses, made up of Aldi, Coop, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.