Dr Saorla Kavanagh, Project Manager with the National Biodiversity Data Centre, discusses some of the successes of the Protecting Farmland Pollinators EIP Project.
I started managing the Protecting Farmland Pollinators Project in 2019. I landed my dream job working in the National Biodiversity Data Centre. This opportunity to work with an awe-inspiring group of people and to get paid to contribute to the ever-growing successes of the Data Centre and All-Ireland Pollinator Plan was too good to be true! Well, two and a half years on, it is even better than I imagined. The Data Centre is probably the best place to work in Ireland and I am so fortunate to get to work with forty fantastic farmers as well!
For those that are not familiar with it, Protecting Farmland Pollinators is a European Innovation Partnership (EIP) project. EIPs are about bringing different actors together to come up with solutions to environmental challenges. In this project, farmers, scientists, and a multitude of actors are working together to come up with a method that will support all farms across Ireland to be more pollinator friendly. By taking action to help pollinators on the farm you will help all biodiversity (we use pollinators as a proxy for biodiversity).
In consultation with farmers, we have created a scorecard that allows each farm to receive Pollinator Points each year and, each year farmers receive a results-based payment that relates to the points. This year, the highest scoring farm received an excellent score of 340,498 pollinator points which has the equivalent value of €17,000. Unfortunately, the maximum a farmer can be rewarded in the scheme each year is €4,000.
The actions that some farmers are taking to protect biodiversity on their farm are incredible.
Within one farming year, four of the participant farms have more than tripled their pollinator score. Twenty-five farmers have increased their score between this year and last (9 tillage, 7 dairy, 5 beef and 4 mixed) (Figure 1). Other highlights of this year’s scorecards include:
- 4 hectares of native meadow created
- 34,107 meters of flowering hedgerow and hedgerow margins created / maintained
- 8 farmers have reduced pesticide inputs
One particularly interesting action is the natural rejuvenation of a field on a tillage farm (Figure 2). One farmer is experimenting to see if it is possible to create a native meadow on his farm without sowing seed. This is potentially more beneficial for biodiversity than sowing a field of native wildflower seed. The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan have published many blogs highlighting the horrors associated with sowing flower seed mixes. The site will be monitored closely this year – watch this space.
We have collected and identified over 1500 specimens (42 hoverflies and 37 bees to date) on the 40 farms. We also have data on farmland plants and hedgerows. These data will be used to identify what management practices on Irish farmland benefit pollinators the most. One farmer recently said, “What’s good for the soil is good for the pollinator and the farmer” and I couldn’t agree more. BASE Ireland and the Danu EIP are doing some interesting work and research into managing soil on farmland.
The success of this project to date is due to the farmers.
We are also very fortunate to have a fantastic operational group. Farmers know their land the best, they know what works, and what doesn’t. When they don’t know, some farmers are willing to experiment. I think that every farmer is a scientist at heart, testing to see what the best way is to manage their farm. What is the best way to care for the animals?, what can be done to increase the crop yield?, how can the farm be sustained so future generations can manage it?, and what can be done to help biodiversity? are all questions that farmers ask themselves. They hypothesise and test their ideas each year to maintain their farm in the best way they can.
The pollinator score helps farmers to understand how pollinator friendly their farm is, and identify what simple, low-cost actions they can take to work towards improving their score in a way that does not negatively affect productivity. What’s important to note here is that it is up to the farmer to choose what actions to take if they decide to take them.
Because of this project farmers have created, maintained, and restored small wildlife habitats on their farms for biodiversity, they have taken action to help pollinators. As I have said, time and time again if you try to help pollinators on your farm you will help all biodiversity.
I have learnt a few things during this project, most notably:
- Locally led projects within the farming community are extremely successful in protecting biodiversity (Examples include EIPs and the Burren Programme).
- Farmers collectively have an undeserved bad reputation when it comes to blame for landscape degradation.
- ‘Non-farmed areas’ can be biodiversity hotspots on farmland.
- Farmers are interested in learning how to be biodiversity friendly, and farmers will use this knowledge to take action to help biodiversity.
Finally, the question I am most frequently asked is – what works for biodiversity and the farmer? The answer – it depends. One sure way to help biodiversity on the farm is to alternate the cutting of your hedgerows. Cutting hedgerows every two years allows more flowers on your farm. Cutting hedgerows every three years will allow even more. The more flowers you have, the more pollinators you will get. More pollinators mean more pollination which will lead to more fruit and more birds. It is that easy to help biodiversity. If you decide to cut your hedges on a two-year rotation, pick half to cut this year and cut the rest next year. Likewise, if it is a three-year rotation, group the hedgerows into thirds, ask the hedgerow cutter man or woman to only cut one third this year. This management system will ensure that at least one hedge will have flowers each year. Even if it is 200 meters that you can leave alone it will have a big impact. I will leave you with a quote from the Project Co-ordinator Úna Fitzpatrick “Lots of small actions, together, make a big difference.”.
This Project is about small actions that allow nature to coexist within a productive farming system. In taking action to protect pollinators, we start a chain reaction that has positive benefits for the general health of our environment, our mental health, and the well-being of future generations. We want to help make the landscape a place where pollinators and wider biodiversity can survive and thrive.
Protecting Farmland Pollinators is a European Innovation Partnership (EIP) funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM) under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. Aspects of the Project are subject to change in response to participant feedback and project monitoring. Is tionscadal EIP (Comhpháirtíocht Nuálaíochta Eorpach) é an Protecting Farmland Pollinators atá á riaradh ag National Biodiversity Data Centre. Tá an Tionscadal maoinithe ag Maoiniú Ionstraim Téarnaimh an AE faoin gClár um Fhorbairt Tuaithe 2014-2022.
More information is available at: www.biodiversityireland.ie/farmland.
The January 2021 Annual Report can be downloaded at: https://www.biodiversityireland.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Protecting-Farmland-Pollinators-Annual-Report-2021.pdf.
Dr Saorla Kavanagh is the Project Manager of the Protecting Farmland Pollinators EIP.
