Ireland’s farmers have space for nature

Approximately 92% of farmers have more than 10% Space for Nature, which would be enough to satisfy their eco-scheme requirement in 2023.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has revealed that their mapping of all hedgerows and stone walls, carried out on all 129,000 farms this year, indicated that only 8% of farmers do not have adequate Space for Nature, which not alone can qualify them to receive the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) payment in 2023, but also an eco-scheme payment (two payments in the new CAP which starts in January, which made up most of the basic payment in the existing CAP).

Preliminary indicative estimates for GAEC8 and Space for Nature from mapping were provided to all farmers in recent months on agfood.ie, for them to check their accuracy and update as required when applying for their BISS and Eco-Scheme in early 2023.

Although a regional breakdown of the mapping is currently not available, the 92% nationally with 10% Space for Nature is reassuring for farmers who were worried about their EU payments in the new CAP.

The mapping included in space for nature the patchwork of hedges, stonewalls, drains, habitats and other beneficial features that exist on many Irish farms. Such features can include margins in arable parcels, drains, patches of scrub, rock, and woodland.

However, in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), grant-aided actions such as planting a new hedgerow, planting a traditional orchard, planting trees in riverside buffer zones, or tree belts for ammonia capture from farmyards will not contribute to GAEC 8 or the Eco-Scheme Space for Nature.

A major change in the new CAP is that Ireland is making the 4% GAEC 8 requirement mandatory across all farms, and not just arable lands. 

That means that every farmer must have 4% Space for Nature on their holding, for the “conditionality” which replaces basic payment cross compliance, from January 1 next.

Without this 4% of land for biodiversity and landscape protection, a farmer cannot be paid the BISS payment in 2023, which is equivalent to the major portion of the basic payment.

The basic payment farmers were familiar with will also go towards the new Eco-Scheme, Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability, and Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers.

For example, the Eco-Scheme is funded by taking 25% from Ireland’s Direct Payments envelope of money, which equates to about €297 million per annum, nationally. 

Within Ireland’s Eco-Scheme is a menu of eight Agricultural Practices (APs) from which farmers can choose (the Eco-Scheme is a voluntary scheme) of which two actions have to be completed. Agricultural Practices include planting break crops, sowing multi-species swards, and limiting chemical nitrogen usage.