News
Pearl Mussel Programme Payments 2020
PMP have started issuing 2020 annual payments to farmers under our results-based programme, and hope to have most payments out to participants before Christmas.
In all, over 450 of our participant farmers will receive their payments over the next few weeks.
Many participants will receive increased payments this year, partly due to review of payment rates but also increased scores on farms due to actions completed and changes in farm management.
€1.2 million is being paid out to farmers in our catchment areas where farmers are receiving a result-based payment that reflects the environmental outputs of their land, and in particular their contribution towards maintaining freshwater pearl mussel and their pristine river habitat.
The Pearl Mussel Project is an EIP (European Innovation Partnership) Locally Led Scheme. The Project is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as part of Ireland's Rural Development Programme 2014-2020.
#pearlmusselproject #musselrivers #EIPagri #RuralNetwork @DeptAgriFoodMarine #EPACatchments #teagasc #watersandcommunities #IrishFarmersJournal #agriculture @IrishFarmersAssociation #Agriland
EIPs and the delivery of ecosystem services publication
Derek McLoughlin (PMP) together with Amanda Browne (Caomhnú Árann ) and Caroline A. Sullivan (Hen Harrier Project) have published an excellent paper entitled: The delivery of ecosystem services through results-based agri-environment payment schemes (RBPS): three Irish case studies. The paper was published in Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy.
The paper gives an insight into the opertation of the three EIPs and shows how they provide a model by which this wide range of ecosystem services can be delivered through a results-based agri-environment (AE) payments approach, where farmers are rewarded for the quality of habitat that they maintain on their farms in addition to the food products that they produce.
You can download and read the publication here.
#pearlmusselproject #musselrivers #EIPAgri #RuralNetwork #agriculture_ie Caomhnú Árann Hen Harrier Project