burren LIFE

Farming for Conservation
in the Burren

News & Events

13/12/2011
BFCP features on Eco-Eye
16/12/2011
BurrenLIFE - Best of the Best
13/12/2011
Burren LIFE - BFCP??
13/12/2011
BFCP Update Year 2
09/11/2011
The Burren Community Charter
15/02/2011
BFCP Workers Database Now Available
26/05/2011
BurrenLIFE voted ‘Best of the Best’
05/05/2011
Michael Viney - Farming for Conservation
05/05/2011
BFCP Year 1 Report
14/03/2011
Burren farmers get €300,000 for flowers

Eligibility

To be eligible to participate in the BFCP a farmer shall:

(i) Be aged eighteen years or over on date of application for support.

(ii) Submit a valid application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme and have all lands farmed declared on the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food’s Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS). In order to benefit from payment in 2011 and 2012 a valid SPS application must be submitted in respect of each of those years.

(iii) Own, or lease (with a expiry date of 31 December 2014 or later), land in the Burren region (see Appendix A) in excess of 3 hectares in size. Rented-in land or land leased-out or land leased-in with a lease expiry date prior to 31 December 2014 is not eligible for payment under the BFCP.

(iv) Farm a holding which contains at least two grazed Annex I habitats as defined in the EU Habitats Directive (including, but not limited to Limestone Pavements, Limestone Heaths, Orchid-rich Grasslands, Turloughs, Semi-Natural Dry Calcareous Grasslands, Lowland Species-rich Dry Grasslands, Lowland Hay Meadows)

(v) Undertake to adhere to the conditions of the Programme as outlined in these Terms and Conditions and accept that failure to meet the requirements may result in forfeiture of all or part of the payment.

In order to benefit from payments under the Programme for the Measures outlined, the applicant must also adhere to the following requirements.

• Ensure Cross Compliance Requirements are fully met
• Maintain land in Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition
• Follow any existing requirements under REPS, the Agri-Environment Options Scheme or any other agri-environment scheme of which the farmer is a participant
• Adhere to all rules relating to designated land (SAC notifiable actions etc.)
• Adhere to all rules relating to designated monuments
• Attend an annual local training workshop on Farming for Conservation
• Follow all management proposals listed in the BFCP Farm Plan
• Facilitate all requests relating to compliance and monitoring checks by the BFCP team and Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food officials