Agriculture

Agriculture Working Group

The IRD Duhallow Agriculture Working Group meet regularly to develop and implement the range of activities across the agricultural sector. A strategic review was held in May of this year and a number of possible funding stream avenues were

Blue Dot Farmer information day. identified for further exploration including a roll over of our current Farming for Blue Dot Catchments EIP project. Under the new CAP 2023 funding has been allocated for EIP projects under two streams, stream A which will cover topics such as water quality, and stream B which will cover topics such as farm succession, farm safety and women in agriculture. The importance of a continuation of the work completed in the Blue Dot EIP has been reinforced by our working group.

CAP 2023

The Department of Agriculture, food, and the Marine (DAFM) submitted the Draft CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) to the European Commission on the 31st of December 2021. The new CAP commences on the January 1st, 2023, with the DAFM expecting to receive approval of the CSP sometime in September this year. There will be several changes to the agricultural schemes commencing on January 1st, 2023. One of the major changes is the introduction of the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) and Eco Schemes to replace the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Greening respectively. As per the BPS application it will be mandatory to submit a BISS application annually to draw down eligible entitlements per hectare owned, leased, or rented. The complimentary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS) will be introduced for all active famers with a valid BISS application submitted with payments received on the first 30 hectares of every farm holding. A new flag ship AgriEnvironmental scheme will be introduced in 2023 with an element of results-based payments included for the first time in a DAFM scheme.

Habitat scoring a wetland with the CIEMM on a project farm

Industry stakeholders visiting a Project farm to view a farm roadway upgrade to prevent silt run-off to the River Dalua, Kanturk April 2022

CAP Strategic Review Submission

IRD Duhallow through the Blue Dot EIP Project team submitted a submission to include several trialled measures from the EIP project in the new CAP 2023. One of these measures was a strategic buffer in identified nutrient flow pathways. The project utilises all available data and mapping systems including the DAFM’ s GLAM mapping system to identify Critical Source Areas and nutrient flow pathways suitable for the strategic buffer measure. Over the course of several field surveys all hydrological features of the participating farms were mapped including included rivers, streams, drains, wetlands, CSA’ s and flow pathways. The current availability of the catchments.ie online mapping facility that identifies CSA’ s and natural flow pathways through the Pollution Impact Potential (PIP) maps has provided an additional mapping tool for the project to support the identification of the natural flow pathways in the catchment. This will allow the project to target specific areas within the catchment for strategic buffers. These buffers when fenced are approximately 20 metres by 40 – 60 metres in size with the project participant receiving a results-based payment based on a measure scorecard.

Farm Biodiversity

There will be a greater emphasis on space for nature on agricultural holdings moving forward. It must be noted that from 2023 conditionality will under pin all CAP Pillar 1 payments such as BISS, CRISS and the ANC. All eligible or active farmers must adhere to this conditionality through the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC). For example, under GAEC 8 it will be a requirement for all active farmers to have 4% of lands declared made up of features beneficial to the climate and the environment. These features can include hedges, drains, field margins and scrub. As a trial the Blue Dot EIP Project carried out biodiversity studies of over forty farms in the Allow Catchment.

Even a small area or field corner can be beneficial and support a wide range of wildlife. Our hedgerows around the farm are extremely important for insects and small mammals so retain these hedgerows for wildlife and remember the season is now closed for hedgerow maintenance.

Beekeepers Association

Following a lengthy break from in-person events due to COVID-19, the Duhallow Beekeepers Association have quickly made up for lost time. March saw the association host a series of workshops at the James O’ Keeffe Institute for both beginner and experienced beekeepers. Speakers included John O’ Mahony, Catherine Cauldwell, Andy Bourke, and Fr. James McSweeney. Attendees learned about everything from hive assembly to bee biology, from flora for bees to harvesting honey. Each workshop proved massively successful with more attendees than ever before. At the start of May this year, a new demonstration area, including two hives, was installed on the grounds of the James O’ Keeffe Institute. This will help the association to host more demonstrations for members in the future, providing a great resource for beekeepers, both novices and masters, to learn from the association ’ s wealth of expertise.

Speakers at an information day: David Wallis Danu EIP, Catherine Seale Duggan LAWPRO, Michael Morrissey IRD Duhallow, John Corbett Grassland Agro UFU & Ulster Wildlife visit a project farm in October 2021 to view a number of measures

Cllr Fionnán Fitzgerald, Michael Moynihan T.D., Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, with IRD Duhallow ’ s Eileen Linehan, Billy Murphy and Triona Dennehy on the occasion of the Minister ’ s visit to Kanturk Mart.

Fr. James McSweeney presenting at the Duhallow Bee Keepers course.