From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D. today announced the launch of a tender process for the management of co-operation projects as part of the new CAP’s national agri-environment scheme (AECM). The services sought will support the establishment and management of co-operation projects across eight regions in Ireland in areas deemed to be of particularly high-nature value.
The new AECM is the flagship €1.5 billion environmental scheme under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan. It was submitted to the European Commission for approval in December.
All farmers will have access to the new AECM Scheme. However as part of this scheme, eight areas in the country have been identified as having particular environmental characteristics and farmers in those areas will engage in the new AECM through the cooperation project teams. These farmers in turn will benefit from higher payment rates, up to a maximum €10,500 per year, should they participate and undertake the most environmentally ambitious actions.
These cooperation teams will be building on the learnings of the current European Innovation Partnership projects (EIPs) and using a habitats-based approach, the AECM aims to contribute significantly to long-term environmental improvement.
Farmers participating in the Co-Operation approach will be supported by a local Co-operation Project (CP) Team, who will assist with implementation of the scheme at local level.
Announcing the launch of the tender process the Minister highlighted the success of the current EIP projects and Locally Led schemes such as the Burren Programme and said
“The locally-adapted and hybrid results-based agri-environment scheme delivery model that has been successfully tried and tested in the Burren Programme and a number of EIPs, will be rolled out across the country in various landscape contexts. We are now looking to scale up from these successful projects to enable as many farmers as possible to participate and contribute to long-term environmental improvement.”
He noted that
“Farmers participating in this Co-Operation element of the AECM will benefit greatly from the support and advice of the Co-Operation teams, a process which has proved very successful with farmers working in the current EIPs. The REAP scheme which I introduced last year is also greatly helping to inform my Department, advisors and farmers on the results based model. I want to assure any farmer participation in the next agri-environmental scheme that they will have all the necessary support and training. They have shown themselves to be adaptable and innovative in the EIPs and other agri-environment measures and I look forward to engaging with them on the rollout of this scheme.
Notes for Editors
The tender is available at the following link eTenders
Closing date for receipt of tender submissions is 8 March 2022. A map of the 8 co-operation zones has been developed. Available at the following link Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Post 2020
How were the Co-Operation Zones selected?
The principle of the Co-operation Projects (CP) is that they facilitate the effective implementation of locally targeted and adapted agri-environment measures in identified high environmental priority areas across the country. These include areas dominated by semi-natural vegetation (both privately owned and in commonage), Natura 2000 lands and priority water catchments, etc. These areas are of high nature value, hold significant carbon stores and are home to some of the most pristine waters in the country.
An initial map was created of river sub-basin catchments with >50% coverage of grazed semi-natural vegetation. These zones were divided on a geographical basis into 8 CP Zones.
Further refinement was carried out by applying nature and water priorities to the zones as set out below.
• Nature priorities:
o Natura 2000 sites,
o Natural Heritage areas (NHAs),
o all offshore islands,
o The Burren region,
o breeding Hen Harrier regions,
o Curlew breeding areas,
o areas covered by the 2 LIFE projects:
o Wild Atlantic Nature and Corncrake LIFE and River Sub Basins known to support large areas of Annex 1 grasslands.
• Water priorities: River Sub Basins containing waterbodies with High status water objectives.
How will a farmer know if they are within one of the zones?
Work is ongoing in preparing a system to enable a farmer to identify whether their farm falls within the Co-Operation Zone. It is intended that a farmer and/or their advisor would be able log on to a Departmental portal for the AECM scheme, enter identifying information for example a herd number, and would then be directed to either the Co-operation measure or the General measure of the AECM. This will be clearly communicated to all farmers and their advisors will in advance of the opening of the scheme.
How much will the Co-Operation teams be paid?
As mentioned, the tender for the recruitment of co-operation projects has just been launched. The costs of the Co-operation teams will be finalised following the completion of this procurement process.
What work will these Co-Operation (CP) teams do?
They will facilitate cooperation between specialist local teams, farmers, advisors, State agencies and Government Departments to co-create and implement a range of solutions that improve the local environment and the viability of these high priority rural areas.
The CP teams will provide expertise on, and assist with, the implementation of actions at a farm and landscape level.
CP Teams will be multi-disciplinary teams with expertise from ecologists, hydrologists ornithologists as well as project managers. They will engage with farmers with advice and best practice to maintain or improve the habitats on their holdings. They will also act as a conduit for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine who will administer payments.
They will provide training and support for farmers and their advisors. In commonage areas their role will also involve assisting with the convening of commonage management groups or facilitating the work of those shareholders interested in implementing actions relating to the programme targets. They will engage with local communities to foster enthusiasm and buy-in for the environmental priorities in the local area.
ENDS