A new locally-led farm and community biodiversity initiative has been announced by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
The €1.25m initiative, which is under the Department’s Rural Development Programme (RDP), is seeking applications from groups of farmers.
Minister of State, Pippa Hackett, who launched the initiative, said: “This is all about helping farmers and land managers to deliver for biodiversity, both on farms and at local level.”
“It is a completely open call so I hope any and all interested bodies such as groups of farmers, NGOs, local authorities, community groups, or indeed existing European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs) will put forward their ideas for local biodiversity initiatives.”
Minister Hackett described locally-led projects as being “among the shining stars” of Ireland’s RDP. The Minister explained she wants to build on them now by offering support to smaller scale versions.
She added: “I was delighted to secure €1.25m in the Budget to fund this call and I see successful projects focusing on increased biodiversity through collaboration with small groups of farmers or other land managers. The farmers might share a common habitat such as a stream which goes through all their lands, or might be scattered but share a common type of habitat – either is acceptable.”
The Minister concluded that the Department wants to support creative ideas on how they might be brought together to enhance biodiversity.
“These schemes have shown real innovation and delivered measurable results in terms of climate, biodiversity and water as well as enhancing the viability of farmers involved,” Minister Hackett concluded.
The projects being submitted should have a value of at least €50,000 and they should take no longer than one year to complete, after planning is done and relevant permissions are received.
Applications should be submitted by midnight on March 31, 2021 to EIP@agriculture.gov.ie
LSL News.