Agri-Business
As horticulture moves away from peat as a growing medium, Tiernaneill Mushrooms has carried out an industrial scale peat replacement project
Environment
An Taisce is calling on Minister for Heritage James Browne to provide a plan of action to combat the issue of illegal peat extraction.
Local authority chiefs under fire from at TD for failing to clamp down on illegal commercial peat extractors.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published its report on 'Large-Scale illegal Peat Extraction in Ireland'
A new report published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) includes a list of sites with the 'poorest compliance' record in 2024.
Researchers have created a new way of finding peat soil, giving insight into where carbon is stored in the ground.
Agri Politics
The INHFA said that it is concerned that commitments given on the Nature Restoration Law may be undermined via a carbon tax on peat soils.
EPA has found a "high level of consistency across Ireland in terms of climate change attitudes, policy preferences, and behaviours".
More than €500,000 will have been paid to farmers who participated in the FarmPEAT results-based agri-environmental programme
The EPA has requested that each local authority prepares site-specific enforcement plans to investigate all illegal peat activities
A number of large peat extraction operations around the country are being investigated for possible illegal activities by the EPA
'Hands off our land." That was the main message emerging from a farm talk in Co. Galway organised by the IFA to discuss rewetting
Two projects on peat forestry and fruit and vegetables, have been granted funding by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
New research has suggested that peat soils cover 13% more area in Ireland when compared to previously available maps.
Bord na Móna delivered an operating profit of €95.2 million for the financial year to March 2023 according to its latest annual report.
Recent figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicate that since 2016, Ireland has imported 172,000t of peat.
Connecting Communities with Peatlands project marks the end of its three-year journey with a conference at the Athlone Springs Hotel.
Five out of 11 sites identified by the EPA as National Priority Sites for enforcement last year were in the food and drink sector.
The government's "inaction" to resolve peat supply issues for the horticulture sector has been described as "scandalous" by one TD.
The level of potential for restoration of reclaimed peat used for agriculture depends on a number of factors, Minister McConalogue said.
Rural Life
Labour shortages are a "major issue" in the horticulture sector, according to chair of the agriculture committee, Jackie Cahill.
Almost 393,000t of Irish peat was exported last year, according to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
A new €169 million fund to help communities most impacted by the ending of commercial peat production has been launched.
