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24 Locally-led Farm and Community Biodiversity EIP-AGRI Projects Awarded €3million in Funding

Jun 2, 2021 | EIP-AGRI News

Community Biodiversity

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett announced the results of an Open Call for Farm and Community Biodiversity Initiatives on the 28th of May 2021. 24 groups, of the 54 which responded to the Call, have been chosen to implement their projects over the next 18 months.

Listing the projects which have been allocated funding, the Minister stated,“I am very excited to see the wonderful projects that this Call is going to fund. It is really positive to see the ideas so many small farm and community groups have come up with to impact positively on their own local environment. I am delighted with the range of projects which have been successful and also with the way they spread across the country. The response we got to the call proves there is huge concern about and interest in biodiversity in Ireland and I am delighted that in response to it I was able to make more funding available.”

Minister Hackett had originally allocated funding of €1.25 million to build on the locally led innovation partnership initiatives with community versions. However, given the response to this Open Call, with 54 submissions, she increased the available budget to €3 million. The projects selected will focus on the promotion of biodiversity through collaboration amongst farming groups, community and local action groups who engage with the wider population.

Under the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Programme, using the European Innovation Partnerships for Agriculture Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI) model, the DAFM is already supporting 24 locally-led programmes around the country. These schemes are showing real innovation and focusing on measurable results in terms of climate, biodiversity and water as well as enhancing the viability of farmers involved. Some of these EIP-AGRI Projects have applied for funding under this Call to implement a new related innovation.

This new, local approach allows communities to be more involved in the planning and implementation of small-scale projects and is a positive development in the already very successful EIP-AGRI Initiative.

Referring to that success, the Minister concluded,“I was determined to see small scale projects be supported so that a wider range of farmers and groups could avail of all the progress that has been made over the past few years. My Department is viewed across the EU as a leader in how we implement and fund our major EIPs. Now we are going to see smaller ones, with local results-based actions, also making a real difference to the environment.”

This Open Call meets another key target in the Department’s Action Plan 2021 which includes designing and commencing new transitional schemes for 2021 including Biodiversity, Climate, Environment and EIP-AGRI local actions.

Details of the successful proposals approved under Call 5 are set out in the table below.

Team Name Name of Project/Theme County Application Value
Protecting Farmland Pollinators Farmer Moth Monitoring Project Kildare €59,553
Great Yellow Bumble Bee Conservation Group Great Yellow Bumble Bee EIP Mayo €110,595
The Burren Pine Farm Project Operational Group The Burren Pine Farm Project Clare €71,760
Teagasc Comeragh Hill Sheep Discussion Group Comeragh Upland Communities Waterford €118,720
IRD Duhallow Owentaraglin River EIP North Cork €198,870
Illuan Farm-Forest Alliance Illuan Farm-Forest Alliance EIP Clare €164,215
Caomhnú Árann Rehabilitation of Coastal Habitats through Grazing Management Aran Islands €71,110
Inland Fisheries Ireland Riparian zone enhancement – Lough Sheelin Catchment Meath and Cavan €184,698
Lárionad Acmhainní Nádúrtha Ctr Curaíocht an Phobail Donegal €162,000
Mulcair Catchment Ltd Lesser Horseshoe Bat Conservation Project Limerick and Tipperary €166,749
Ballyhoura Development CLG Parish Habitats & Biodiversity Limerick €95,000
Ballyhoura Development CLG The Deel Spatially Targeted Buffers EIP Cork and Limerick €80,000
Talamh Beo Core Soil Biodiversity Literacy and Enhancement Project All Ireland €215,775
Carbery Group West Cork Trees Project West Cork €80,306
South Kerry Development Partnership Kerry Eco-Social Farming Project Kerry €128,550
Trees on the Land A Practical Silvoarable Demonstration and Research Project for Ireland Midlands, South and East of Ireland €79,000
Inagh EIP Farmer-led biodiversity enhancement project in a farm, forestry and raised bog area West Clare €181,450
Farming with Nature Farm Biodiversity Management Platform East Cork €111,000
O’Moore Dairy Discussion Group To improve the diversity and abundance of insects associated with pastoral grazing systems in a concentrated dairy landscape Laois €85,000
Loop Head Together Hemp4Soil Clare €76,000
Oriel River Catchments & Coastal Association Carrickrobin enhancement project Louth €67,766
Inishowen River Trust Culdaff Riparian Buffer Zone Scheme Donegal €132,870
Shanakyle Bog Restoration Group Shanakyle Bog Restoration and Habitat Enhancement Clare €50,000
Ballymoney Community Group Enhancing Biodiversity in the Ballymoney stream catchment Wexford €51,847

The European Innovation Partnerships for Agriculture Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI) under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 (RDP) is a co-operation measure under Article 35(1) of the regulation. These locally led schemes promote local solutions to specific issues and involve the establishment of Operational Groups (OGs) to develop ideas, or take existing ideas/research and put them into practice by being hands on in terms of working towards the resolution of a practical problem. There are already currently 24 projects operating under the EIP-AGRI Initiative.

Information on the EIP-AGRI initiative can be accessed on the Department website at DAFM – European Innovation Partnership or by contacting eip@agriculture.gov.ie.

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