South Galway
The Galway area of the ACRES CP is a highly varied landscape with large areas of species-rich grasslands, turloughs, wetlands and peatlands. There are also numerous environmental issues to address. In the south Galway area there will be a greater focus on water quality, peatland and wetland management and improving biodiversity on more agriculturally productive farms.
Changes from
GLAS and
Burren Programme
For farmers that were in GLAS and/or The Burren Programme, there are quite significant changes. Up to €7,000 can be earned in annual area-based payments. These payments will be based on field score, the higher the biodiversity and better the environmental management, the higher the payment. If fields are scoring low, and participants are not reaching the €7,000 the shortfall can be made up by using the budget to carry out more NPIs, (one-off plans). These NPIs may help increase the score of the field. Examples of this could be replacing fence field divisions with hedgerows or creating strips of trees along rivers (Riparian Margin NPI). Payments can also be earned for wildlife-improvement measures such as planting wild bird cover, installing Barn Owl boxes and planting native orchards.
Improving biodiversity on conventionally managed farms
Results-based payments for habitats may not suit every farm, especially those which consist of primarily improved grassland. There are however a range of NPI actions which can be done on these farms to ensure an income while also contributing to overall biodiversity improvement in the landscape
Rough Grazing Farm Landscape
Rough Grazing Farm Landscapes usually support a dominance of rushes as well as many other plants, grasses and sedges. High scoring fields will have a wide range of species present and a variable sward height throughout with frequent tussocks of rush, herbs and grasses.
Production Focused Farm Landscape
A production based farm will have mostly 'green', improved rye-grass dominated fields with low species diversity and hence a lower results-based score. That's not to devalue the societal contribution from these farms, as they produce more food overall and earn more from production.
Ideas for Landscape Actions
There is huge scope for carrying out Landscape Actions in the Galway area. Peatland restoration in the area's numerous peatland areas, landscape-level plans for improving water quality in rivers and small-scale projects such as wildflower meadow restoration are just some of the myriad of options available to farmers in ACRES CP.
Donal Hogan
Regional manager for the South Galway area
If you're a farmer in the South Galway area of the CP, please feel free to contact me for any queries you may have about the scheme.
Email: donal@acresburrenaran.ie
Phone: +353851414073
