Burren Winterage School Provisional Programme

(live programme on www.burrenwinterage.com)

21^st – 25^th October 2020

Part of the Burren Winterage Weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year, the Burren Winterage School goes virtual, with speakers from far and wide contributing to a series of on-line presentations and discussions on themes relating to ‘farming for nature’ and how farming can make a more positive contribution to addressing our global climate and biodiversity crises. Featuring speakers from all over the world – including farmers, scientists and policy makers – this event is a great opportunity to explore how we can collectively shape a brighter future for our natural world and the farm families who depend on it to make a living. The Burren Winterage School are grateful to the Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for their financial support towards the external costs of this event.

DAY 1: Wednesday 21^st October, 2-5pm

EIP-AGRI SYMPOSIUM – Sharing lessons learned and looking at how these might help to inform Ireland’s new CAP Strategic plan
This Webinar will hear from ‘European Innovation Partnerships’ (EIPs) across Ireland which are at the cutting edge of innovative, targeted (often local), partnership-based approaches to addressing specific environmental challenges. Discussions will focus on how lessons learned from these projects can help to inform the design and delivery of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan, currently under development, to more effectively address our growing environmental challenges.

Session 1: EIP-AGRI Projects – Challenges faced, solutions tested, lessons learnt (2-3.30pm)

Chair: Shane Conway, National Rural Network whitakerinstitute.ie/person/mr-shane-conway/ 

Format: Short (5-minute) contributions from twelve EIP-AGRI Projects from across Ireland nationalruralnetwork.ie/eip-agri/ outlining their targeted approaches to addressing a range of environmental challenges, followed by a Q&A session.

Session 2: How can we use EIP learnings to inform the new CAP Strategic Plan? (3.45 – 5pm)

Chair: Patrick McGurn and Gwyn Jones, HNV Ireland and the EFNCP www.efncp.org

Format: Chaired discussion on what innovations and experiences can be harvested from the EIPs and potentially integrated into the CAP Strategic Plan, while sustaining innovation, ensuring administrative efficiency and enabling engagement at scale.

Evening Keynote (8-9.30 pm)

James Rebanks, author of ‘The Shepherd’s Life: A Tale of the Lake District’ and ‘English Pastoral: An Inheritance’ will talk about his farming life and read from some of his books. Followed by an open Q&A session with the author. www.penguin.co.uk/authors/120316/james-rebanks.html

DAY 2: Thursday 22^nd October, 2-5pm

Rewarding Farmers for the delivery of Ecosystem Services
This Webinar, organised in conjunction with www.rbpnetwork.eu  will look at different approaches across the world to incentivise farmers to improve their environmental performance, in particular ‘Result Based Payment’ (RBP) Schemes. Discussions will look at the emergence and impact of such approaches, their advantages and limitations, and what contribution they may make to future policies to ensure food and environmental security in the EU and beyond.

Session 3: Implementation of RBPS in the future CAP (2-3.45pm)

Chair: Wolfgang Suske (Austria) (RBP Network) http://www.suske.at/en/team/di-wolfgang-suske 

Parallel Session 1 (2.15-3.15): RBPS Case Studies

Timothy Male (Policy Innovation Organization, USA) Pay for Success: US-based progress in building results-based payments for agricultural outcomes. www.policyinnovation.org

John Finn (Teagasc, Ireland) Farming for Nature: The Role of Result Based Payment Schemes
https://www.teagasc.ie/farmingfornature

Lena Schaller (CONSOLE Project, Austria) Insights from the CONSOLE Project – lessons learned from over 60 Case Studies https://console-project.eu/

Parallel Session 2 (2.15-3.15): Implementation of RBPS in the CAP Green Architecture

Elisabeth Süßenbacher (Ministry of Agriculture, Austria) Implementation of a RBPS for biodiversity, soil and climate protection in the Austrian Agri-Environmental Programme 2023. https://www.bmlrt.gv.at/english/agriculture.html

Sönke Beckmann (Senior Policy Advisor at Deutscher Verband für Landschaftspflege, Germany) From Eco-schemes to Agri-Environmental programmes: Possibilities to integrate RBPS in the CAP strategic plans https://www.schleswig-holstein.dvl.org/themen-leistungen/gap

Plenary Session (3.15-3.45)
Conclusions from parallel sessions followed by input from Frank Vassen, European Commission, DG Environment: Perspective of the EU Commission on RBPS

Session 4:  Balancing the necessary policies for food and environmental security (4-5pm)

Professor Allan Buckwell, Research Director, RISE Foundation Brussels https://risefoundation.eu/ , and Emeritus Professor, Imperial College, London.   Followed by Q&A, discussion.

Evening Keynote (8-9.30 pm)
Rob Burton (Ruralis Institute for Rural and Regional Research, Norway), one of the authors of The Good Farmer: Culture and Identity in Food and Agriculture will share some of the fascinating insights from his work. ruralis.no/en/employees/rob-burton-en/ Followed by an open Q&A session.

DAY 3: Friday 23^rd October (2-5pm)

Farmers as first responders to our Global Climate and Biodiversity crises
This Webinar will explore ways in which farmers across the world are contributing innovatively to addressing our climate and biodiversity crises and shaping a new future for their industry and their communities. The session will also explore capacity issues – education, research, knowledge transfer and more – in scaling ‘farming for nature’ solutions to meet global challenges.

Session 5: Building Capacity for Change in Peripheral Rural Areas (2-3.20pm)

Chair: James Moran (GMIT) https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James_Moran2

Aisling Murtagh (National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland) Rural resources and building capacity for rural regeneration  https://ruralization.eu/ (20 mins)
Andy Bleasdale (National Parks & Wildlife Service, Ireland)  A Strategic Nature Project for Ireland – the first steps https://ec.europa.eu/clima/news/eu-budget-2021-2027-commission-welcomes-provisional-agreement-funding-environment-and-climate_en  (10 mins)
Serafeim Felekis (Greece) and Mugurel Jitea (Romania) Building capacity for sustainable development in peripheral rural areas  https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/resources/documents/erasmus-strategic-partnerships-higher-education-model-application-form-2020_en  (10mins + 30 minutes audience participation workshop, gathering views on skills and educational needs in rural areas)

Wrap up and Q&A (10 mins)

Session 6: International Case Studies (3.30-5pm)

Chair: Brendan Dunford (Ireland, Burren Programme, www.burrenprogramme.com)

Presenters (3×20 min)

• Maiko Nishi (United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, Japan) Experiences and Lessons from the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI): A Case Study of Forest Grazing in Japan https://ias.unu.edu/en/ ; https://satoyama-initiative.org
• Rafael Antelo (Colombia): Traditional cattle ranching, a conservation tool of South American savannas: Study case: The Orinoco plains region. http://heroesalrescateanimal.com/
• Ayanda Cele (South Africa) True Conservation Build Bridges of Hope & Understanding; Mabaso Community as a case study wwf.org.za

Followed by Panel Discussion, Q&A  

Evening Keynote (8-9.30 pm)
Patrick Holden (UK, Farmer, Founder and Chief Executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, former Director of the Soil Association, CBE, Writer and Broadcaster) Farming For Nature – My Journey. Followed by an open Q&A session with the author. https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/

DAY 4: Saturday 24^th October, All Day

Farming for Nature
Today’s events – actual and virtual – organised in conjunction with www.farmingfornature.ie  will hear from those at the coalface of ‘Farming for Nature’ – the farmers themselves – and their reflections on some of the challenges they face, what motivates them and how they see their farming systems evolving in the years ahead as environmental challenges grow. The event will also profile and acknowledge some of the remarkable Farming for Nature Ambassadors for 2020 and announce the winner of the Public Vote.

Session 7: Farming for Nature in the Burren (all day series of 2.5 hour walks)

Farm walks hosted by a number of Burren farmers who will share their insights and knowledge into farming for conservation in the Burren and the importance of traditional grazing practices to support biodiversity, water quality, landscape and cultural heritage in the region. Requires advance booking on www.burrenwinterage.com

Session 8: Farming for Nature Ambassador Awards (8-9.30pm)

The Annual Farming for Nature Ambassador Awards www.farmingfornature.ie/awards/voting/ is a celebration of the inspiring work being done on a daily basis by farmers across Ireland to support nature on their farms. The session will include a short film and panel discussion featuring several of these Ambassadors as well as the announcement of the winner of a public vote to select their favourite farming for nature Ambassador.

• Agenda:
  A short (5-minure) film on eight of the FFN Ambassadors for 2020
• Panel discussion with FFN 2020 Ambassadors, hosted by Ella McSweeney
• Presentation by Minister Pippa Hackett Minister of State for Agriculture with responsibility for land use and biodiversity. https://www.gov.ie/en/biography/448db-pippa-hackett/
• Announcement of Public Vote Winner 2020

 Sunday 25^th October

The Burren Winterage Cattle Drove

Hosted by the Casey Family, Fanore, and broadcast virtually.