A new farmer-focussed biodiversity and agricultural knowledge network project is set to be launched in January.
The FarmBioNet project, led by Teagasc, is funded by the European Union under the €93.5 billion Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation.
FarmBioNet aims to identify biodiversity-friendly farming practices and help farmers to provide habitats that will offer food, safety and shelter for biodiversity on their farms.
It will establish farming and biodiversity national networks, including farmers, foresters, researchers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), advisors, and others involved in Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS).
The project will use these national networks to gather and disseminate knowledge and information.
Teagasc said that biodiversity-friendly case-study areas will be used to promote exchange of traditional and evidence-based actions that benefit farm biodiversity.
The project team will conduct a cost-benefit analysis, showing how biodiversity can benefit sustainable food production.
It will also develop practical decision-making tools to promote biodiversity with farmers, foresters and policy makers.
Network
The three-year FarmBioNet project aims to enable all farmers to understand how biodiversity-friendly their farm is, and what simple, low-cost actions they can take to improve their whole farm for biodiversity, without negatively impacting on productivity.
“Every farm has scope to significantly improve biodiversity before it starts to cost anything,” Andrew Bergin, Farming for Nature ambassador and executive committee member, said.
“Farmers and scientists working together can identify where this slack lies and target measures to take advantage of it. It’s such an easy win,” he added.
Dr Saorla Kavanagh, FarmBioNet project coordinator and research officer in Teagasc, said that the initiative will use “a multi-actor approach to come up with solutions to protect biodiversity”.
“I believe that by working together we can generate practical and measurable actions that will help our biodiversity and farmers.
“In taking action to protect biodiversity, we start a chain reaction that has positive benefits for the general health of the environment, as well as our own wellbeing and that of future generations,” she said.