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).