Two Irish projects have been nominated as finalists in the EU CAP Network’s Agricultural and Rural Inspiration Awards (ARIA) 2024, which acknowledge European projects that embody best practices within the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) framework.
These awards search for the greenest, smartest, most socially inclusive, innovative and resilient Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) projects implemented at a local level.
Over 100 applications were evaluated as part of the process and just 24 were shortlisted under the following six categories;
- Smart and Competitive Agriculture;
- Environmental Protection;
- Socio-Economic Fabric of Rural Area;
- Rural Youth;
- The Gender Equality Award;
- The Popular Vote Award;
The CAP project nominees
Nominated in the Environmental Protection category, the Farm Carbon EIP project is committed to finding sustainable solutions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from agricultural peat pastures in Ireland.
The two-year pilot project, run by Green Restoration Ireland, has worked with 23 farmers in Offaly, Laois and North Tipperary to restore degraded peatlands and research the most viable crops for future wetland agriculture under Ireland’s first paludiculture trials.
Farm Carbon adopted a three-stage approach to the pilot, which included:
- Baselining participating farm habitats across the key environmental pillars of biodiversity, carbon and water quality;
- Implementing measures to improve environmental performance in these habitats;
- Measuring the extent of these improvements.
170ha of peatland were surveyed as part of the project with an additional 20ha of peatland rewetted, which as a result has stored 200t of Co2 emissions annually.
In addition to this, 21 ponds were created, 120 hedge trees were planted, 1.45km of hedgerows were established, 500 cattle were removed from waterways and various flora and fauna records were taken across the habitats.
Farm Carbon E.I.P. is also developing an ‘Irish Peatland Community Code’ to finance the restoration of degraded Irish peatlands, as well as an environmental quality index to integrate the scoring for each of the three environmental pillars which incentivize sustainable land-use.
Its research findings will help form a foundation for future policy recommendations in relation to sustainable peat-based agriculture in Ireland and as well as an educational basis for sustainable peatland usage.
Nominated in the Socio-Economic Fabric of Rural Areas category is the Galway Wool Co-op, which works to restore the farm-gate value of Irish wool for producers, establish a transparent supply chain and promote the indigenous Galway sheep breed.
The farmer-run co-operative is the first of it’s kind in Ireland is attempting to bridge the gap between the flailing market price of wool and the thriving woolen industry in the country.
The co-op now consists of over 60 flocks and has successfully raised the revenue for its producers from the national average of €0.15/kg to €2.50/kg, as well as raising the overall quality standards of the breeding stock.
Not only as it raised the economic value of the commodity, which has typically been referred to as waste byproduct of the lamb and sheep meet industry, it has also helped restore the cultural heritage of the Irish wool industry.
It has helped to foster a sense of shared pride amongst the members by acknowledging the dual revenue streams that can be sourced from the pedigree sheep breed.
A jury will decide the winners of the five categories, bar the popular vote, which is open to members of the public who can submit their vote for their favourite shortlisted project up until Sunday, December 1.
The winners will be announced during a dedicated ceremony on December 4, in Brussels, Belgium, before they are released online.