Farmers in Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Meath will be able to apply for funding to support them in undertaking nature-positive measures on their lands.

The money is available to help with the creation of ponds, mini-orchards and mini-woodlands, as well as drawing up nature and peatland plans for farms.

The funding is available under the Hare’s Corner initiative run by the Burren Beo Trust.

Applications open on Friday 15 March 2024.

Eligibility

To be eligible, applicants must own land in one of the listed counties or have permission to carry out works on land in these counties, for example those applying on behalf of a school or community group.

Farmers cannot receive this funding if their land is in a designated area or if they are in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) or a National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) farm plan scheme.

Those interested should also note that the Hare's Corner does not pay landowners to carry out works, but provides material support, guidance and, in the case of ponds, micro-funding towards machinery costs.

When applying, farmers should know which measure they are interested in and the Eircode of where the work will be carried out.

The Burren Beo website states that those selected to participate “are giving the Hare’s Corner team permission to use anonymised data and images generated from your site for project reporting and promotional purposes”.

More information is available here, as will be a link to application forms from 15 March.