€1million boost for Burren farming

NEARLY €1 million will begin issuing to North Clare farmers this Friday as part of the second year of payments under the Burren Farming for Conservation Programme (BFCP).
One-hundred-and-forty-three farmers are to benefit from an average of €6,800 under the scheme which the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney said “has already generated significant environmental benefits”.
“I am delighted to confirm the issuing of payments averaging €6,800 to 143 farmers under the BFCP to support high environmental value farming in the Burren, which is one of Ireland’s outstanding landscapes and is known worldwide,” he said.
Minister Coveney emphasized, “In the particularly tough financial climate, it is essential that funding is focused on programmes delivering, identifiable and verifiable agri-environmental measures. Without doubt the BFCP guarantees excellent value for money – farmers are paid on the basis of work done and outputs generated and all works are co-financed by the farmer and are improving the biodiversity, water quality, cultural and landscape attributes of over 13,000 hectares of Ireland’s flagship heritage landscape, the Burren.”
Local Fine Gael Deputy Pat Breen said he believes the programme is an example to other areas. “It is a fantastic scheme that should be used as a role model in other sensitive areas of Ireland,” he commented.
The programme was open to all farmers who farm in the Burren Region in North Clare and South Galway and is funded using unspent single farm payment funds with the agreement of the EU Commission. It is implemented in conjunction with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Burren Life Project.
Minister Coveney noted the BFCP has already generated significant environmental benefits including a major shift away from the feeding of silage to ration-based feeding systems, the repair of almost 20km of broken walls, the provision of new water supplies and the removal of scrub from species rich grassland.
“These developments will result in improved water quality in this very sensitive karst landscape, protect sensitive limestone springs from pollution and allow the Burren’s famous rare flora to emerge every spring. In addition, a new network of paths has been opened up, which will assist in keeping the landscape open and accessible and protecting some of Europe’s rarest grasslands and landscape,” he concluded.