An exciting new pilot initiative has recently been announced that to make farming for nature a sustainable and scalable solution to address the biodiversity and climate crises. ReFarm intends to create a funding structure that will enable businesses to invest in high impact nature-positive actions on farms in Ireland and create a partnership between farmers, businesses, investors and researchers.
ReFarm will enable farmers to take nature positive actions and as a result, earn a financial return for nature-positive outcomes on their farms. It is intended that this will complement and enhance the impact of existing agri-environmental and other funding schemes.
The delivery of Nature-Positive actions on farms will be led by Dr. Brendan Dunford (ReFarm co-founder). This work will be built on the learnings from the Burren Programme and from Burrenbeo Trust initiatives such as ‘The Hare’s Corner’. Actions will be undertaken by farmers in the Burren, and nationally through Burrenbeo Trust’s Farming for Nature network. These may include the creation of ponds, hedgerows and mini-woodlands as well as supporting the conservation of species-rich grasslands and other actions. These will be funded directly through business funds.
A number of businesses are supporting ReFarm to deliver actions, but also co-funding ReFarm’s research programme with support from the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre, BiOrbic. A key ambition of ReFarm is to create a sustainable funding and implementation mechanism, while ensuring effective and robust governance. This element will be led by Anke Heydenreich, an impact investor, and ReFarm co-founder. Susannah McAleese will act as an advisor to this work stream.
Businesses funding the ReFarm actions will engage with the research team to identify how their ‘investment’ can be reported through nature related reporting frameworks, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Farmers will also engage from the perspective of what works for them, practically and financially. The research will be led by Professor Jane Stout (School of Natural Sciences, VP for Biodiversity & Climate Action for Trinity) and Professor Martha O’Hagan (Associate Professor, Trinity Business school) of Trinity College Dublin. Dr. Catherine Farrell and Orlaith Delargy, both with experience in the corporate sector and nature restoration initiatives, will co-ordinate and deliver the research outcomes.
Farmers and businesses interested in becoming involved, or have ideas to share make contact at info@refarm.ie
To find out about existing agri-environmental and other funding schemes under the CAP Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027, click here.