Growing concern about the demise of water quality in South…
FarmPEAT: farming with nature in the midland raised bog landscape
The FarmPEAT Programme is a locally-led, innovative, results-based pilot programme for farmers who manage lands that surround some of Ireland’s finest remaining raised bogs in the midlands of Ireland. Working with local farmers, the project will design and trial a scheme especially adapted to the local landscape that will incentivise the delivery of enhanced environmental outcomes.
FarmPEAT Project
The FarmPEAT Project is a results-based agri-environmental programme. This means that payments are linked to habitat and environmental quality (the result). Farms with higher nature quality will receive a higher payment than a farm with a lower nature quality.
The programme will reward farmers for improved management of habitats on peat soils along with other important landscape features such as eskers, field boundaries and watercourses. The programme will be results-based whereby farmers will get paid depending on the scores they achieve, with higher scores, indicating higher environmental quality, getting higher payments. It is hoped that this programme will form a basis for future agri-environmental schemes in these areas. The project it presents an opportunity for farmers to be involved in developing policy that could provide long term environmental and economic benefits to their communities into the future.
The FarmPEAT Project is operating at up to eight candidate study sites centered on raised bogs or former raised bog areas. These sites are in the Irish midland counties of Roscommon, Offaly, Kildare, and Westmeath. Coupled with the development of the results-based agri-environmental model, the FarmPEAT Project will assist farmers and the broader community to transition towards a more sustainable use of the peatland resource in the area through a range of educational tools and peer mentoring.
How FarmPEAT works with farmers
On joining the programme, a participating farm is scored (using the FarmPEAT scoring system) and the farmer gets paid a corresponding payment based on that score. The following year, if the score increases (indicating that the habitat and environmental quality has increased), then a higher payment is issued. If, following the scoring of the farm, a farmer wishes to undertake measures to improve the farm score, the FarmPEAT Project Team will be on hand to advise and provide guidance on appropriate measures that will help improve the score. In addition, the Project Team will offer financial assistance to complete these actions in the form of a Supporting Actions Payment.
“One of the benefits in the FarmPEAT Project were the supporting actions you could take. I could use them to pay for new fencing, wire, and stakes. For the rewetting, I said I’d sign up at the start and then there was some kickback locally and nationally about rewetting. There was a lot of negative press on it. But on my own side, I’m still interested in rewetting. My field which is directly neighbouring Raheenmore Bog is fairly wet and not really productive at the best of times, so rewetting won’t be too much of an issue and I can lower the plastic dams if needed. It’s kind of good in a way, because the wetter land grows more grass if there’s a drought. In the sandy, lacky ground, the grass would be burnt out of it. Our farm is right beside the bog and growing up, I wouldn’t have known all I know now. With FarmPEAT and the different experts coming along and giving talks, it opened my eyes to what people were actually doing to the bog and how Ireland’s raised bogs are so important. There was one comment on our FarmPEAT community day that was praising the farmers involved with the project. We have to do what we can to protect the raised bogs for the next few generations.”
Ray Brennan, farming near Raheenmore Bog, Co. Offaly
On joining the programme, a participating farm is scored (using our scoring system) and the farmer gets paid a corresponding payment based on that score. The following year, if the score increases (indicating that the habitat and environmental quality has increased), then a higher payment is issued. If, following the scoring of the farm, a farmer wishes to undertake measures to improve the farm score, the FarmPEAT Project Team will be on hand to advise and provide guidance on appropriate measures that will help improve the score. In addition, the Project Team will offer financial assistance to complete these actions in the form of a Supporting Actions Payment.
Supporting actions are voluntary measures that a farmer may choose to undertake with the aim of improving their habitat quality or whole-farm score. This document sets out the typical supporting actions that are available to farmers within the Programme. The rate of funding varies from 25% to 100% depending on the environmental benefit of the action. Each participant is provided with an annual works plan which details the proposed supporting actions to be completed during the following year.
This article was originally published in Issue 16: Summer 2024 – Catchments Newsletter
Irish Peatland Conservation Council
Download a copy of the IPCC’s My Raised Bogs booklet to find out how you can help to save these wonderful habitats.
Learn More
Significant Pressures: Drained Peat. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published the latest assessment of the pressures that impact on water quality in our rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal waters and groundwaters. The assessment shows that 34% of our waterbodies are at risk of not meeting their water quality objectives because of the impacts of human activities. https://www.catchments.ie/significant-pressures-peat/
EPA Catchment News: Volunteer-led peatland restoration battles climate change and enhances these unique habitats for native wildlife. Read here.
The National Water Forum Peatlands Webinar presentations looking at managing peatlands to optimise returns for water quality, climate mitigation and biodiversity. https://thewaterforum.ie/peatlands-webinar-presentations-are-now-available-online/
Irish Peatland Conservation Council
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