The AranLIFE project began in 2014 and is one of a number of locally led agri-environmental schemes (LLAES) where local solutions are sought for local problems, with specific actions developed to aid the landscape and farming practices in the area.
The project is due to end in September 2018. It was originally due to end in 2017, but several bad winters meant that an extension was provided to allow key works to be completed through the project.
“There were several key areas that we have tried to address through the project,” said project manager Dr Patrick McGurn. “Poor access to fields is a key issue that has a knock-on effect when it comes to getting livestock in to graze pasture. The islands are made up mainly of boreens, many of which might only be wide enough for one person to walk.
“The type of species-rich grassland on the islands need grazing to clean them up and prevent scrub encroaching. There is very little running water on the island for livestock, which has a big effect on how long cattle can graze a field. Having water in fields means that cattle have more grazing time.”
Through the project to date, approximately 25km of boreen has been cleared, which allows for better access to fields. Along with this, approximately 82ha has been cleared of scrub and bracken.
Approximately 25km of boreen has been cleared which allows for better access to fields.Approximately 25km of boreen has been cleared which allows for better access to fields.
These two key actions have brought a good section of land back into agricultural use.
The project has planned for the refurbishment and construction of 200 water catchers, with good progress made in this aspect so far, with 100 new water catchers installed and 75 existing ones repaired.
“Moving forward, we also want to come up with more innovative solutions. For example, we have found that cows can be deficient in phosphorus, as very little chemical fertiliser is spread on the land. So we have been working with a local vet to try to develop a mineral lick that would contain phosphorus,” said Patrick.
“If we were on a conventional farm, we could add it to the water to give it to cows, but it wouldn’t work as well if we are putting it into the water catcher.
“The system that is operated on the farm is a very good agricultural system where a grass bank is built up over the summer months and then grazed slowly over the winter.
“You look at the figures of €600 to €700 to keep a suckler cow, but we are nowhere near this. We have no silage, no slurry, no big amount of fertiliser. We have very little fixed costs in general, so it can be a very efficient system in that respect.
“However, it is very labour-intensive. There is one farmer that has 32ha in 170 fields. There is a lot of labour there when it comes to simple things like moving stock. And the returns from the actual agricultural system are poor.”
Future
“Its more than just farming, the islands bring 250,000 tourists every year and they aren’t going to come to see briars. There’s no other landscape that could bring such a crowd,” said Patrick.
“It is one of the most clear-cut examples of farming also providing a public good,” according to countryside management specialist with Teagasc Catherine Keena.
“People are coming to see what farmers are doing, whether it is the stone walls or the boreens. It’s not for monuments that people are coming, but the actual landscape.
“If farmers stop farming, the tourism would be gone. It shows that the value that farmers add above just food production is huge and this is something that should be taken into account for future environmental schemes,” Catherine added.
“In the next CAP, it is critical that we can pay farmers adequately for obvious public goods or ecosystem services. We have been hampered by requirements to pay on actual costs incurred and income forgone, rather than value delivered. It has been easy to justify farmer payments for destocking or reducing stocking rates, which have led to undergrazing of high-value nature areas including uplands,” Catherine said.
For any future environmental scheme for the islands, many of the actions will be based on what has worked to date.
“We will continue with the scrub control and increasing the supply of water to fields,” according to Patrick.
This is the type of land that was targeted to be cleaned up, the majority of work has to be completed by hand due to the limited access with machinery.“There is also a big demand for native seeds in Europe for certain plants that grow on the Aran Islands, so this is an area that we will look into more and could be an option for the future.”
“Due to the landscape of the Aran Islands, a lot of surveying is required for these type of projects, which costs time and money. We will look at the use of drones for the future to help with this surveying. As it stands, to go from Inis Óir, where I am based, to the furthest farm on Inis Mór is a six-hour round trip.
“We have applied through the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) to get funding for a further locally led scheme called Caomhnú Árann. The aim is to build on what we have done and learned during the AranLIFE project.
“There was less than a third of the farmers on the islands in the scheme,” according to Ivan Kelly, Teagasc adviser to the farmers on the Aran Islands. “If you were to develop the scheme on, you would really like to be able to open it up to all farmers on the islands.”
Working with farmers
“It really was a scheme where farmers were put at the centre,” according to Ivan. “An all-Ireland scheme wouldn’t work for somewhere like the Aran Islands; it’s a completely different landscape.
“Through the project, we looked at everything from grassland management to what’s good for biodiversity to breeding and animal health.
“The aim is to keep these small fields being farmed; this is good for farming, biodiversity and for tourism,” Ivan continued.
“There is more work to be done, especially on the optimum stocking rates that will ensure the islands continue to be farmed into the future. You want farmers to be able to get as much out of the farming system as possible.
“You are also looking at the type of cow that suits the system to ensure good breeding practices that means you get a calf per cow per year and that could be a cow with a low maintenance requirement,” said Ivan.
“You need a cattle production system that works for the land and the farmers and farmers have been very positive towards the scheme.”
Various partners, including the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG), Teagasc, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Fáilte Ireland, Galway County Council, and the Heritage Council, were involved with developing the scheme.
Michael Ó’Conghaile farms about 100ac in 94 different parcels on the island keeping nine cows and a bull.“The scheme gave us a little bit of a push,” according to Michael Ó’Conghaile, who farms at Cill Rónáin on Inis Mór. “The work might never have got done if it wasn’t for the project. It’s a great way to run a scheme; if you did the work then you got paid and if you didn’t do the work you didn’t get paid.”
Michael farms about 100 acres in 94 different parcels on the island, keeping nine cows and a bull. He also keeps a few replacement heifers each year, with the rest of his cattle sold to farmers off the island as weanlings. This land is split between winterage and summer grazing ground, as there is very little fodder saved for the winter.
Instead Michael will graze cattle on the summer fields from April until September or October and then cattle will go up to the winterage fields which have been left to grow for the summer months. This allows a sufficient bank of grass to grow to carry him over the winter months.
“Water is a big issue. It is the difference of being able to graze a field or not,” Michael said.
“I have about 47 water catchers myself. Before, when there was less water catchers, if we got a dry winter, we would be in trouble. Over the years of the scheme, I was probably able to make €2,000 to €3,000/year for carrying out work. Clearing scrub was probably the biggest job,” said Michael.
“You could get €10 to €12/hour for clearing scrub. When farmers see that your field is clean, it pushes them to improve too. Fields are scored from one to five, with a five meaning it is very clean, but a field covered in scrub would be a score of one.”
Farmers will then receive higher payments for lands that have got a score of five than they will for lands that have got a score of one.
“The older people used to say that you should pass on land in better shape than when you got it and that is what this scheme is doing,” according to Michael. “I think all the farmers in the scheme would really like to thank Patrick McGurn and all of the AranLIFE team for the work they have put in over the last four years.”
Read more
LLAES series: AranLIFE – working with island farmers
€24m available for new locally-led schemes
Listen: Commonage farmers to be paid €14.50 per hour
All about locally-led schemes
The AranLIFE project began in 2014 and is one of a number of locally led agri-environmental schemes (LLAES) where local solutions are sought for local problems, with specific actions developed to aid the landscape and farming practices in the area.
The project is due to end in September 2018. It was originally due to end in 2017, but several bad winters meant that an extension was provided to allow key works to be completed through the project.
“There were several key areas that we have tried to address through the project,” said project manager Dr Patrick McGurn. “Poor access to fields is a key issue that has a knock-on effect when it comes to getting livestock in to graze pasture. The islands are made up mainly of boreens, many of which might only be wide enough for one person to walk.
“The type of species-rich grassland on the islands need grazing to clean them up and prevent scrub encroaching. There is very little running water on the island for livestock, which has a big effect on how long cattle can graze a field. Having water in fields means that cattle have more grazing time.”
Through the project to date, approximately 25km of boreen has been cleared, which allows for better access to fields. Along with this, approximately 82ha has been cleared of scrub and bracken.
Approximately 25km of boreen has been cleared which allows for better access to fields.Approximately 25km of boreen has been cleared which allows for better access to fields.
These two key actions have brought a good section of land back into agricultural use.
The project has planned for the refurbishment and construction of 200 water catchers, with good progress made in this aspect so far, with 100 new water catchers installed and 75 existing ones repaired.
“Moving forward, we also want to come up with more innovative solutions. For example, we have found that cows can be deficient in phosphorus, as very little chemical fertiliser is spread on the land. So we have been working with a local vet to try to develop a mineral lick that would contain phosphorus,” said Patrick.
“If we were on a conventional farm, we could add it to the water to give it to cows, but it wouldn’t work as well if we are putting it into the water catcher.
“The system that is operated on the farm is a very good agricultural system where a grass bank is built up over the summer months and then grazed slowly over the winter.
“You look at the figures of €600 to €700 to keep a suckler cow, but we are nowhere near this. We have no silage, no slurry, no big amount of fertiliser. We have very little fixed costs in general, so it can be a very efficient system in that respect.
“However, it is very labour-intensive. There is one farmer that has 32ha in 170 fields. There is a lot of labour there when it comes to simple things like moving stock. And the returns from the actual agricultural system are poor.”
Future
“Its more than just farming, the islands bring 250,000 tourists every year and they aren’t going to come to see briars. There’s no other landscape that could bring such a crowd,” said Patrick.
“It is one of the most clear-cut examples of farming also providing a public good,” according to countryside management specialist with Teagasc Catherine Keena.
“People are coming to see what farmers are doing, whether it is the stone walls or the boreens. It’s not for monuments that people are coming, but the actual landscape.
“If farmers stop farming, the tourism would be gone. It shows that the value that farmers add above just food production is huge and this is something that should be taken into account for future environmental schemes,” Catherine added.
“In the next CAP, it is critical that we can pay farmers adequately for obvious public goods or ecosystem services. We have been hampered by requirements to pay on actual costs incurred and income forgone, rather than value delivered. It has been easy to justify farmer payments for destocking or reducing stocking rates, which have led to undergrazing of high-value nature areas including uplands,” Catherine said.
For any future environmental scheme for the islands, many of the actions will be based on what has worked to date.
“We will continue with the scrub control and increasing the supply of water to fields,” according to Patrick.
This is the type of land that was targeted to be cleaned up, the majority of work has to be completed by hand due to the limited access with machinery.“There is also a big demand for native seeds in Europe for certain plants that grow on the Aran Islands, so this is an area that we will look into more and could be an option for the future.”
“Due to the landscape of the Aran Islands, a lot of surveying is required for these type of projects, which costs time and money. We will look at the use of drones for the future to help with this surveying. As it stands, to go from Inis Óir, where I am based, to the furthest farm on Inis Mór is a six-hour round trip.
“We have applied through the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) to get funding for a further locally led scheme called Caomhnú Árann. The aim is to build on what we have done and learned during the AranLIFE project.
“There was less than a third of the farmers on the islands in the scheme,” according to Ivan Kelly, Teagasc adviser to the farmers on the Aran Islands. “If you were to develop the scheme on, you would really like to be able to open it up to all farmers on the islands.”
Working with farmers
“It really was a scheme where farmers were put at the centre,” according to Ivan. “An all-Ireland scheme wouldn’t work for somewhere like the Aran Islands; it’s a completely different landscape.
“Through the project, we looked at everything from grassland management to what’s good for biodiversity to breeding and animal health.
“The aim is to keep these small fields being farmed; this is good for farming, biodiversity and for tourism,” Ivan continued.
“There is more work to be done, especially on the optimum stocking rates that will ensure the islands continue to be farmed into the future. You want farmers to be able to get as much out of the farming system as possible.
“You are also looking at the type of cow that suits the system to ensure good breeding practices that means you get a calf per cow per year and that could be a cow with a low maintenance requirement,” said Ivan.
“You need a cattle production system that works for the land and the farmers and farmers have been very positive towards the scheme.”
Various partners, including the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG), Teagasc, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Fáilte Ireland, Galway County Council, and the Heritage Council, were involved with developing the scheme.
Michael Ó’Conghaile farms about 100ac in 94 different parcels on the island keeping nine cows and a bull.“The scheme gave us a little bit of a push,” according to Michael Ó’Conghaile, who farms at Cill Rónáin on Inis Mór. “The work might never have got done if it wasn’t for the project. It’s a great way to run a scheme; if you did the work then you got paid and if you didn’t do the work you didn’t get paid.”
Michael farms about 100 acres in 94 different parcels on the island, keeping nine cows and a bull. He also keeps a few replacement heifers each year, with the rest of his cattle sold to farmers off the island as weanlings. This land is split between winterage and summer grazing ground, as there is very little fodder saved for the winter.
Instead Michael will graze cattle on the summer fields from April until September or October and then cattle will go up to the winterage fields which have been left to grow for the summer months. This allows a sufficient bank of grass to grow to carry him over the winter months.
“Water is a big issue. It is the difference of being able to graze a field or not,” Michael said.
“I have about 47 water catchers myself. Before, when there was less water catchers, if we got a dry winter, we would be in trouble. Over the years of the scheme, I was probably able to make €2,000 to €3,000/year for carrying out work. Clearing scrub was probably the biggest job,” said Michael.
“You could get €10 to €12/hour for clearing scrub. When farmers see that your field is clean, it pushes them to improve too. Fields are scored from one to five, with a five meaning it is very clean, but a field covered in scrub would be a score of one.”
Farmers will then receive higher payments for lands that have got a score of five than they will for lands that have got a score of one.
“The older people used to say that you should pass on land in better shape than when you got it and that is what this scheme is doing,” according to Michael. “I think all the farmers in the scheme would really like to thank Patrick McGurn and all of the AranLIFE team for the work they have put in over the last four years.”
Read more
LLAES series: AranLIFE – working with island farmers
€24m available for new locally-led schemes
Listen: Commonage farmers to be paid €14.50 per hour
All about locally-led schemes
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