Some nice outputs from BRIAR projects. Field Boundary geographic distribution mirrors HNV. See here.
Using the New HNV Viewer
We’ve had a few queries on the new HNV viewer.
Here’s a short video explaining how to use the viewer.
Technical details can be found in our Journal of Maps article.
New National Map of High Nature Value farmland in Ireland now on-line
One of the outputs of the HNV project was creating a national HNV indicator map for Ireland.
This digital map is now on line, on the Teagasc map viewer.
The map is shows the likelihood of finding HNV farmland in an ED, with 5 being almost certain to find HNV and 1 being almost certain not to find HNV.
Technical details can be found on the map construction are published in the Journal of Maps:
Matin, S., Sullivan, C. A., Ó hUallacháin, D., Meredith, D., Moran, J., Finn, J. A., & Green, S. (Writers). (2016). Predicted distribution of High Nature Value farmland in the Republic of Ireland [doi: 10.1080/17445647.2016.1223761], Journal of Maps: Taylor & Francis.
HNV farming in Achill
To get a flavour of what a HNV farming landscape looks like and what it is like to farm it watch this video put together by the EFNCP. It shows the importance of farming for a number of habitats and species and also for the local community.
It’s a lovely video, well done all. For other videos on HNV farming in other countries click here
High Nature Value farmland website
We are pleased to launch our website www.high-nature-value-farmland.ie . It explains what High Nature Value farmland is in an Irish context and also shows some of the results of the research the IDEAL-HNV team have been carrying out over the last three years.
Some aspects of it are still a work in progress but we hope that it becomes an important and up-to-date resource for people interested in High Nature Value farmland.
Any comments or feedback can be directed to caroline.sullivan1@gmail.com and if you have any events, workshops or training programmes that might be relevant to High Nature Value farmland we are happy to advertise them.
Mapping Work at Earth Observation Symposium
Some of the satellite mapping within the IdealHNV project was presented at the Irish Earth Observation Symposium in Galway last Month. The presentation can be found here: SMartin_IEOS15_Day1_Ses1.pptx.
IDEAL-HNV farmer workshop outcomes
Four workshops took place in late July and early August in four locations across the country; Maam Cross, Co. Galway, Castletownbere, Co.Cork, Glendalough, Co. Wicklow and Sligo town, Co. Sligo. Sligo TV attended the Sligo workshop and the piece can be viewed here
Sixty farmers in total participated. Before the workshops commenced participants were asked to fill out a very short questionnaire. This questionnaire asked farmers to describe the land they farm in five words. A word-cloud was generated based on these words. The larger the word, the more often it was used in the questionnaire responses. The results of this can be seen below.
The wordcloud gives us an insight into the type of land that farmers in HNV areas have.
The workshop began with an overview of the IDEAL-HNV project and High Nature Value farmland in general. Some research into the types of HNV farmland in Ireland was then presented. This was followed by a general discussion on the challenges faced by farmers in HNV farmland areas and solutions or innovations that might help reduce these challenges.
The challenges identified in all regions fit under four headings:
- Keeping people on the land
- Land type
- Weather
- Government Agencies
In all regions there was concern about the next generation of farmer in Ireland and where supports to encourage them to stay on the land will come from. All regions identified the hill land or wet lowlands that they were farming as requiring very specific management. Careful consideration of stock type, stock breed, stock numbers and land condition were required. All regions highlighted the impacts that poor weather can have on farming these areas such as high costs of supplementary feeding and also a lack of opportunities to save their own hay or silage some years (including this year). Finally, all regions highlighted the challenges they face when dealing with government agencies, particularly when they receive conflicting advice from two different agencies. They also felt that more regionalised advice would be more beneficial.
If you are interested in the challenges and potential solutions that were discussed or have any suggestions of your own, please contact caroline.sullivan1@gmail.com.
A detailed report on the workshops will be available in due course.
HNV farming events October 2015
Teagasc Biodiversity Conference, October 21st-22nd
Teagasc will host the Teagasc Biodiversity Conference on Wed October 21st and Thurs October 22nd in the Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise, Co. Laois.
The sessions include:
- Agriculture and Biodiversity Policies
- Locally-led Agri-environement Schemes
- High Nature Value farmland
- Ecosystem Products and Services
- Promoting Biodiversity in the Wider Countryside
For further information on the speakers in these sessions click here. This promises to be a really interesting conference with speakers such as Davy McCracken (Scotland’s Rural College), Alan Matthews (Trinity College Dublin) and several of the IDEAL-HNV team members. Closing date for registration is Friday October 9th.
Burren Winterage School, October 22nd-25th
The Burren Winterage Weekend will take place from Thursday October 22nd to Sunday October 25th. One of the many events running over the weekend will be the Burren Winterage School, the title of which is Supporting High Nature Value Farming in Europe. Click here for a draft agenda of the school.
There will be contributions from farmers and researchers from HNV areas in Croatia, Austria and Ireland.
Members of the IDEAL-HNV team will be presenting and participating in discussions over the 4 days. There is a special farmer rate. Book before September 30th by following directions here.
HNV farming in West Cork
Upcoming events in 2015
There are a number of interesting events coming up in the next few months that may be of interest to folks. The IDEAL-HNV project will be running four farmer workshops across the country in late July and early August. See here for further details.
In September, several members of the IDEAL-HNV team will attend an international conference in Rome, Italy to present some of the latest project results at a symposium on High Nature Value farmland: towards more effective conservation and monitoring of biodiversity across European landscapes. Further details on the conference are available here.
October will also be busy with two events on the week of October 20th. The Teagasc Biodiversity conference will be held in the Killeshin Hotel in Portlaoise on October 21st and 22nd. Anyone who wishes to submit a paper or poster can do so until Monday July 27th. Further details are available here. The IDEAL-HNV team will be attending. The Burren Winterage Festival is also on that week and we will be announcing further details on events in conjunction with that in the coming months.
IDEAL-HNV farmer workshops
We will be running four workshops across the country in the next couple of weeks for farmers who are farming High Nature Value farmland. The workshops aim to gain farmer input on what it is like farming HNV farmland and provide information that can be used to design appropriate potential supports for these areas.
The workshops will run for ~2 hours. They will begin with a short introduction (15-20mins) to the project and will also show some of the results from farm surveys carried out in 2013 and 2014. We will spend most of our time discussing issues around farming these types of land in general such as scrub encroachment, invasive alien plants like Rhododendron and Japanese Knotweed, Bracken, poaching, deer grazing etc. We are also interested in hearing how farmers have adapted their management for these lands and any suggestions on future solution for the problems faced in these areas. We will also discuss whether these areas need supports and what those supports might look like if they do.
The information gathered will be reported back to the Department of Agriculture and will be used to design supports for farmers in HNV areas.
Dates and venues of workshops are listed below:
Peacockes Hotel, Maam Cross, Co. Galway July 28th 2015 7:30pm
Twomey’s Bar, Castletownbere, Co.Cork July 30th 2015 7:30pm
Glendalough Hotel, Laragh, Co.Wicklow August 4th 2015 7:30pm
Room B1201, Sligo IT, Sligo August 10th 2015 7:30pm
All are welcome and refreshments will be provided
For further information contact Caroline Sullivan on 0863519657 or email caroline.sullivan1@gmail.com
Identifying High Nature Value farmland in Ireland 