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Tag Archives: burren farming

Farm scheme’s €23m dividend

A NORTH-Clare-led agri-environment scheme has generated €23 million for the local economy, according to new figures provided for the Burren Programme Steering Group. Payments totalling €9.4 million has been remitted to 328 Burren farmers for environmental farming since 2010, with an average direct results-based payment of €2,613 in 2019. With a focus turning to sustainable environmentally farming, the Burren Programme can point to a number of relavant and topical achievements. It has helped to deliver a range of environmental, social and economic benefits for farmers, the local community and wider society. It has ensured the continued use and viability of Burren farms by funding land access improvements, water infrastructure and scrub clearance. At least €33 million worth of landscape and biodiversity improvements have been completed in the Burren since 2010 thanks to the scheme. More than 23,000 hectares of scrub has been removed from 328 farms, providing space for rare flowers, such as orchids and gentians to flourish. Significant water …

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Aoife gets with the programme

Farmer Aoife Forde sings the praises of agriculture schemes tailored to their areas, such as the one in The Burren AOIFE Forde feels privileged to be born and raised in the Burren in the middle of a such a unique landscape. The 24-year-old agricultural science graduate and suckler farmer loves working on the family farm, which is is situated about three miles from Carron, just a stone’s throw from Mullaghmore, Sliabh Rua and Knockanes, most of which is owned by the state through the Burren National Park. Aoife describes the Burren as a magical place and really appreciates growing up surrounded by the rocky limestone outcrop. “You can get a sense of people that came before you. You see stone walls that are standing there for hundreds of years. You can see the ring forts and all the old cattle pens. I just feel privileged about where I was born and raised.” She agrees that efforts must continue to protect …

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Burren Winterage honours generations of farmers

THE Burren winterage festival takes place over the bank holiday weekend. The celebration honours generations of Burren farmers and includes re-enactments of ancient pastoral traditions and Samhain pursuits. For hundreds of years, Burren farmers have marked the end of the summer by herding their cattle up onto winter pastures in the limestone uplands, in the tradition known as winterage and the Burren is one of the only places in the world where it still occurs. Recent years have seen a decline in many rural traditions but one local group is trying to not only ensure the continuation of this important Burren tradition but is celebrating it in a community-led weekend event. Along with the local community, the Burrenbeo Trust is coordinating the 2013 Burren Winterage Weekend, which celebrates the Burren’s farming heritage and the broader significance of pastoral farming in the Burren and beyond. The weekend includes a prize for the best shorthorn heifer, an open farm day, a fancy …

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