Project established food brand standard that rewards farmers for biodiversity restoration measures.
The Farming with Nature project is a comprehensive biodiversity initiative aimed at promoting sustainable agricultural practices in Ireland. The project is built upon the success of the BRIDE project, which focused on regenerating biodiversity in intensive farming environments in the East Cork region. The Farming with Nature project aimed to take the learnings from the Bride project to the next level, focusing on making the demonstrated solutions more efficient and scalable using modern technology.
43 farmers participated in the project, with the newly created dedicated web portal and app being used to calculate the space for nature on each farm and the biodiversity quality index. Going one step further, the Farming with Nature project also created a robust standard for rewarding farmers for ecosystem services and nature restoration, based on the space for nature that had been calculated on their farm.
Current food quality labels and brands in Ireland, such as the quality assured, origin green or organic labels, fail to recognise or consider biodiversity or nature. There is currently no label on the market for Irish food products which guarantees any kind of biodiversity on the farm where the produce originated. Using the space for nature index and assessment to quantify and qualify farm biodiversity, created in the Farming with Nature project, the project also created a proposal for a “Farming with Nature” food brand and accreditation.
The Farming with Nature food brand could provide food consumers with an option for buying this label which guarantees the product came from a farm which has a minimum of 10% space for nature and managed for biodiversity. This brand offers a solution to the current challenge of farmers having no incentive to take parts of their lands and put back into ecosystems, as it currently costs farmers to have “non-productive” land used for biodiversity, whereas the Farming with Nature brand could provide farmers with payment for these ecosystem services.
Farmer feedback on this initiative showed that this brand idea could incentivize ecosystem services and nature restoration while changing mindsets of those in the agricultural space that it is not just large, intensive and productive farms that have value, but that farming with space for nature has a high value.
In relation to consumer acceptance of this brand, the Farming with Nature project are aware of the public opinion and reality of environmental destruction with current production-focused farming in Ireland, whereas this brand standard allows for recognition of positive action for biodiversity, rewards farmers, and gives consumers the option to invest in ecosystem services.
For more information, contact Leo at leo@erinn.eu.
