Investing in semi-natural grasslands in Co Clare

I recently attended a workshop on Grassland Conservation, organised by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) near Gort, Co Galway. From an outside perspective, conserving something that blankets most (c.60%) of our ‘emerald isle’ might seem a bit daft.

But the focus of this particular workshop was the shrinking subset of grasslands described as ‘semi-natural’ – natural, but not fully so, as they depend to some degree on human management (mostly through grazing or ‘meadowing’). Also referred to as ‘species-rich’, these are fields which are ‘unimproved’ – just plain ‘flowery’ to some, ‘weedy’ to others, depending on the perspective.

Though notoriously difficult to monitor, NPWS estimate that 30% of Ireland’s most special grasslands have been lost over a decade, largely arising from the dual trends of land intensification and abandonment, as well as planting for forestry. That’s a substantial loss, as these grasslands are notoriously biodiverse, some hosting an astonishing 73 different species per 2x2m area (average 33) – a huge genetic resource ebbing away, along with the insect and bird life that has evolved to rely on it.

Tailored management

John Hynes, who farms 45 suckler cows (mostly Charolais and Limousin crosses) in north Clare, knows more than most about managing grasslands. He farms 100ha of rough summer pasture near his home in Kilfenora, and 62ha of winterage grasslands 30 minutes away, near Tubber. John also helps herd his father Anthony’s cattle on ‘corcass’ – marshy, tidal grasslands by the sea at Lahinch.

John’s grasslands are highly fragmented and very diverse, all requiring different grazing, feeding and husbandry regimes – much of it based on multigenerational knowledge – to maintain them. His winterage is potentially one of the most species-rich grasslands of its type in northwest Europe, testament in part to the traditional low-input winter grazing regime, which John practices there.

A recent visit revealed an abundance of late-summer wildflowers in bloom, many of them scarce in, or absent from, the wider countryside. These pastures are festooned with scattered anthills, a great indicator of low disturbance over a long period, and thus of their species-richness.

John has invested heavily in these grasslands – pulling invasive scrub, repairing walls, erecting fencing, building a holding pen, sinking a well and installing solar panels to pump water to a series of concrete troughs.

These investments, part funded through the Burren Programme in which John participated, have certainly improved the efficiency of his farming system, but were justified largely by the ‘result-based’ payments which he earned by improving his pasture management.

The new ACRES Scheme has seen the extension of result-based payments across over 1m ha of Irish farmland. Habitat condition is assessed using a suite of scorecards, with higher scores earning higher payments. John recently received his ACRES scoresheet, confirming the exceptional quality and extent of his grasslands. The resultant €7k payment (the maximum available) is a just reward – good value even - for John’s efforts in conserving and managing them.

Ironically however, for John, as the ‘value’ of these grasslands increases (in inverse proportion to their rarity) his agri-environment payments have reduced significantly, in part due to the ACRES payment ceiling.

Works budget

John is also worried that his remaining ACRES ‘works budget’ won’t come near to meeting the ongoing costs of controlling invasive scrub and bracken on the extensive grasslands.

Another issue for John is the relatively short duration of environmental payments – typically five years – and their stop-start nature, rendering them unconvincing collateral when dealing with banks. He had considered converting to Organics, but this would have meant reductions in his result-based payments. Instead, like many farmers, John recently started working off-farm – night shifts (7pm-7am) in Galway – to supplement his income. Invariably however, “the farm suffers” as a result.

Part of the solution to this conundrum may lie in the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) under which companies will soon be required to disclose concrete biodiversity targets and action plans. Some may turn to farmers like John to help deliver these biodiversity targets, potentially paying him for his work in managing these rare habitats – a more logical and sustainable investment perhaps than purchasing land and paying someone else to manage it.

Such funding isn’t without its risks – including concerns around ‘greenwashing’, ‘offsetting’ and ‘double funding’ – but these can and must be surmounted if we want to see farmers like John continue their stewardship of the land.

Perhaps John may be part of a ‘brave new world’ in farming where he sells prime weanlings and prime ‘biodiversity’, with payments based on the quantity and quality of each. Not a bad deal for society if it helps avoid penalties imposed on the State – and on businesses – for not meeting legally-binding nature conservation targets. It may be one way to help reverse the loss of our invaluable ‘flowery’ fields – and of the active farmers like John who we need to manage them.

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