Would you like to fill up those damaging dips, generally level off the field and earn some money as well? Well, you may well be able to, thanks to an ongoing problem in the civil engineering industry. Its problem, which is growing one, is what to do with the innumerable tonnes of soil, sand, gravel, stone, clay, and rock that are produced every time a housing estate, supermarket, by-pass or shopping centre is built.

In the past, it went into landfill sites. Now, with a tax on material going into those, there's a need for new sites where this inert landfill can be dumped. Which is where farmers come in, because the old chalk pits and quarries and the dips, valleys and depressions in many fields, are an ideal place to put it.

NuGen, an environmental and recycling business based in Edinburgh, is one of a small group of firms that carries out such work. It specialises in restoring problem fields, and access tracks, and will handle all of the necessary permits and certification from SEPA. Director Andrew Irvine is keen to stress that inert landfill is not at all to be confused with household or industrial waste which has to go into special landfill sites.

"Inert landfill is a Category A waste, which means that it never degrades," he says. "Its soil, brickwork, chalk, sand, concrete, stone, clay and rock. It doesn't include Category B waste like cardboard, paper, plastic, metal and trees, which should always be recycled."

The amount of inert waste produced ranges from one lorryload for a single new house to several thousand for a new supermarket. And as existing landfill sites continue to fill up, there's increasing need to find smarter ways of repurposing. In Scotland, there is expected to be a shortfall, of millions of tonnes, between the inert waste generated and the ability of existing sites to accommodate it over the next decade.

The landfill projects that companies offering this service are generally industrial-scale ones. But NuGen is focused on individual sites and are in discussions for a number of farm projects.

So what's in it for the farmer? "The main thing is that he gets a field that has 70 or 80% production and within a season it becomes 100% available. His production can increase by 20 or 30%," says Andrew. "But putting stone, sand or chalk under the topsoil can also improve drainage and raising the level of the field will often reduce the chance of flooding in low-lying fields. We can also make a level pad that he can use as a site for a new building or area of hard standing."