Glanbia Ireland’s Sustainability Action Payment is helping protect farmland pollinators

Small actions taken on farms can have a big impact on Biodiversity. Throughout May, the National Biodiversity Data Centre hosted its Festival of Farmland Biodiversity which encourages positive engagement around the topic of biodiversity and farmland, highlighting some of the ways that farmers can work to support biodiversity.

The festival coincides with a longer-term project coordinated by the National Biodiversity Data Centre where farmers are encouraged to provide small wildlife habitats for pollinators on their land. The Protecting Farmland Pollinators project is a European Innovation Partnership (EIP) initiative which is enabling farms across Ireland to be more pollinator and biodiversity friendly.

Please watch the video below to learn more about the initiative from Michelle Larkin (National Biodiversity Data Centre) and farmer Shane O’Loughlin from Co. Kildare who is part of the Protecting Farmland Pollinators project.

As part of Glanbia Ireland’s ‘Living Proof’ sustainability agenda, an €18 million annual annual Sustainability Action Payment was launched earlier this year to assist our 5,000 milk suppliers to enhance the environmental sustainability of their farms.

Many elements of the programme are designed to assist dairy suppliers improve farm biodiversity through the planting of additional native trees and hedgerows, the incorporating of Multi Species swards (MSS) and the use of riparian margins all benefit pollinators.

The decline in wildflowers is an issue for pollinators and we all have a tendency to ‘tidy up’ the landscape – whether that’s on farms or in our gardens at home. Gardeners and farmers alike can support pollinators and biodiversity-friendly landscapes through the implementation of the following steps:

•  Maintain native flowering hedges
• Allow native wildflowers to grow around the farm/garden
• Promote nesting places for wild bees
• Plant native trees and hedgerows

If we can all take small actions to help combat biodiversity loss, the cumulative impact could address the issue. By maintaining diversity in the Irish landscape, the farming community is helping to build resilience against the challenges of climate change.