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Rural Development Programming: Expereinces from Ireland
Dr. Alex Copland
A background to rural Europe
• Widespread loss of biodiversity
• Loss of threatened habitats
• Pressures on water quality andquantity
• Loss of ecosystem functioning
• AND struggling rural areas
Where is Ireland coming from?
Farmland Bird Declines:- 9/19 BoCCI Red-listed species- Range at least halved since 1970s
Loss of threatened habitats:
- Grasslands “unfavourable – bad”
- Peatlands “unfavourable - bad”
Viability of rural communities
- Changing farm structures
- Rural depopulation
Overview of farming in Ireland
• Pastoral (livestock) dominate
– 92% under grass (grazing and mown)
– 7.9% crops (of which 79% cereals)
• Agricultural structures (2013)
– Average farm size 32.5ha
– Average field size 2.5ha (variable)
– Winter Wheat yield 10.3 t/ha (2017)
Overview of Ireland's RDP
• Budget of c. €4 billion(€2.19 bn from EU)
– Agri-environment (€1.53bn):
– GLAS (c. €1.12bn)
– Beef Data Genomic Programme (€281m)
– Burren scheme (€12.9m)
– Areas of Natural Constraint (€1.37bn)
– Non-productive Investments (€425m)
– LEADER (€250m)
– Knowledge Transfer (€134m)
– Co-operation (€62m)
– Organics (€56m)
– Traditional buildings (€6m)
• Green Low-Carbon Agri-environmental Scheme
– National agri-environment scheme
– Prioritised entry according to Environmental Assets
– Suite of targeted (mandatory) and general (optional) measures
– Payment maximum of €5,000 (or €7,000) per applicant
• The Burren Programme
• Cooperation
– EIPs and locally-led schemes
Some more detail
Summary of GLAS actions
Action Minimum Maximum Completion deadlinePayment Rate
Planting New Hedgerow 10m 200m 31st March 2016 €5/m/y
Arable grass margin
• 3 metre width *All tillage crops harvested
in 2016
€0.35/m/yr
• 4 metre width * €0.50/m/yr
• 6 metre width * €0.70/m/yr
Bat Box 3 boxes 15 boxes 31st March 2016 €13/box/yr
Bird Box 1 box 15 boxes 31st March 2016 €6/box/yr
Conservation of Solitary Bees (Boxes) 1 box 5 boxes 31st March 2016 €6/box/yr
Conservation of Solitary Bees (Sand) 1 habitat 2 habitats 31st March 2016 €45/habitat/yr
• Breeding Waders * €366/ha/yr
• Chough * €365/ha/yr
• Corncrake * €364/ha/yr
• Geese and Swans * €205/ha/yr
• Grey Partridge 200m * 31st May 2016 €2.10/m/yr
• Hen Harrier * €370/ha/yr
• Twite A * €375/ha/yr
Twite B 50m * 31st May 2016 €1.50/m/yr
Twite C 0.25ha 3ha 31st May 2016 €900/ha/yr
Commonages Management Plan * €120/ha/yr
Farmland Habitat (Private Natura) * €79/ha/yr
Coppicing of Hedgerows 10m 1,000m 28th February 2017 €2.20/m/yr
Environmental Management of Fallow Land 0.25ha 3 ha 31st May 2016 €750/ha/yr
Catch Crop10 ha (Priority Area) / 4
ha (General Action)30 ha 15th September 2015 €155/ha/yr
Laying of Hedgerows 10m 1,000m 28th February 2017 €3.70/m/yr
Low Emission Slurry Spreading * €1.20/mᶟ/yr
Low Input Permanent Pasture /
Traditional Hay Meadow10 ha
€314/ha/yr and €315/ha/yr
Minimum Tillage10 ha (Priority Area) / 4
ha (General Action)*
1st crop establishment following approval
€40/ha/yr
Protection and Maintenance of Monuments
•Tillage•Grassland•3 metre width
•6 metre width•10 metre width
•30 metre width
1 20 31st May 2016 €146/unit/yr
1 20 28th February 2017 €120/unit/yr
* 31st December 2015 €1.50/m/yr
0.15 LU 10 LU €200/unit/yr
* 31st March 2016 €0.90/m/yr
* 31st March 2016 €1.20/m/yr
* 31st March 2016 €1.60/m/yr
* 31st March 2016 €3.60/m/yr
0.05ha / 250 whips 0.09 ha / 450 whips 31st March 2016 €0.90/whip/yr
10m 4,000m €0.70/m/yr
0.05ha /10 trees 0.05ha /10 trees 31st March 2016 €23.50/unit/yr
0.25ha (General Action)
1.0ha (Priority Action) 3 ha 31st May 2016 €900/ha/yr
• Opened 2015
• Three “tranches”
• Revision and targets refined between tranches
Scale of GLAS actions
Highlights:
• Wild Bird Cover 4th largest arable crop!
• 82,164ha priority bird habitats under (good) management
Action Scale Cost
Bird Boxes 203,801 €3.91m
Bat Boxes 209,019 €1.84m
Wild Bird Cover 19,037 ha €25.8m
Breeding waders 1,277 ha €0.60m
Curlew 4,551 ha €1.52m
Chough 12,338 ha €5.10m
Corncrake 214 ha €0.10m
Geese/Swans 16,083 ha €4.58m
Grey Partridge 134.6 km €0.39m
Hen Harrier 44,103 ha €24.0m
Twite 3,738 ha €2.00m
Planting hedges 1,201km €10.8m
Low-input pasture 262,479 ha €132m
Hay meadows 61,620 ha €28.2m
So, is the Irish RDP any good for biodiversity?
• Potentially, but that are pit-falls
• Advisory input – acknowledged deficit in areas such as biodiversity – needs to be enhanced
• Monitoring – limited to CMEF and €1.4m evaluation project (ongoing) – needs measure-by-measure refinement
• Link to non-productive investments
• Results-based options
• Continue to consult and engage
“Thank You!”