€1.2 million FarmPeat scheme launched in Offaly

A €1.2 million scheme which will reward farmers for the management of habitats on peat soils along with other important landscape features such as eskers, field boundaries and watercourses, was launched by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett at the Clara Bog Visitor Centre, last Thursday July 29.

Minister Hackett had the opportunity to meet both the FarmPEAT team and some of the farmers taking part in the pilot project.

''It is an honour to partake in the launch, not just as a minister, but as an Offaly woman and a fellow farmer,'' she said. ''It’s encouraging to see work beginning on these inland bogs. Raised bogs represent one of the most valuable natural ecosystems in Ireland and the appropriate management of adjacent agricultural lands that surround them can play an important role in maintaining and enhancing their long-term conservation value.’'

Commenting on how the work will be undertaken, the Minister continued: ‘The project will work with local farmers to design and trial a programme especially adapted to the local landscape. It will reward farmers for improved management of habitats on peat soils along with other important landscape features such as eskers, field boundaries and watercourses. All of that will I believe combine to deliver enhanced environmental outcomes.’'

Caroline Lalor, the Project Manager added: "We are delighted with the interest that local farmers have expressed in the Project. We are offering 42 farmers a contract for the first year and are planning to offer additional places next year”. She continued, “it is wonderful to see so many of the pilot farmers here today and we look forward to working with you over the next two years.”

The new locally-led programme brings together farmers, farm advisers, scientists, and researchers to deliver a targeted landscape level intervention which places the farmer at the heart of the process. The programme will be results-based, in that farmers will get paid based on the scores they achieve.

Thanking those involved Minister Hackett concluded: ‘As we strive to reach challenging climate change targets, the work planned here will help Ireland transition towards more sustainable use of our peatlands. So, I want to congratulate Caroline Lalor, the project manager of FarmPEAT, on the work done so far in setting up this exciting new project. She has a strong team with her, and I wish them all every success in the future”.

The Minister earlier joined the FarmPEAT team for a visit to both the famous Clara Bog Boardwalk and to local farmer Brian Sheridan's land. Mr. Sheridan spoke with the minister about the importance of the bog and the pressures the farmers face who are adjacent to them.

The sites taking part in the project are located in the Irish midland counties of Offaly, Roscommon, Kildare and Westmeath. The sites were selected in order to represent the geographic spread of raised bogs in the midlands and also, at some of the sites, to allow for the FarmPEAT Project to support already completed restoration work and research conducted on the high bogs themselves.