BW-08
Hedgerows & infiltration strips
Haut-Lône farms,
France
47.3011° N, 0.2478° E
( Site file
A pilot on 712 ha of Haut-Lône farmland: hedgerows and grassed infiltration strips. Infiltration on the test plots rose by 38 mm/h.
The problem
On the Haut-Lône plateau, heavy rain ran off compacted fields straight into the streams that feed the Lône. The soil took in too little of it, and the farms lost topsoil with every storm.
What we built
Since 2025, a pilot on 712 ha has planted hedgerows along the contour and left grassed infiltration strips at the bottom of each field. It sits upstream of the leaky dams of BW-06, so the water is slowed first in the soil, then in the streams.
Adaeze Okafor’s team runs infiltration tests on fixed plots every season. On plots with strips, infiltration is 38 mm/h higher than on the field next to them. This is a pilot: the figure is measured, not yet reviewed, and we will publish the full season before proposing to scale it.
Coordinates
47.3011° N, 0.2478° E
Commissioned
Structure
19 km of hedgerow and grass strips
Scale
712 ha of farmland
Partner
Lône-Vire Water Agency
Homes behind the line
0
Sensors
8
Status
Pilot
+38 mm/h
infiltration rate, test plots
( Readings
What this site measures,
and who checks it.
R-0459
Infiltration rate, test plots
+38 mm/h
Northfield Soil Laboratory
Measured
