Learning by doing in the Comeragh Mountains
Falling returns from production and a desire to protect what’s good about the uplands set a group of 14 hill sheep farmers in the Comeragh Mountains on a journey to complete a European Innovation Partnership project.
As part of the Uplands Symposium, an event organised by Teagasc and CAFRE on November 12, Catriona Foley, a Drystock Advisor based in Teagasc Dungarvan, provided an overview of their work which cumulated in the publication of Comeragh Upland Communities EIP Report and Walsh Scholar, Oliver Gill’s thesis on ‘The monetary effects of adjusting farm management techniques and stocking rates to maximise climate and biodiversity ecosystem services in the Comeragh Mountain Uplands’.
Completed over an 18-month period and designed by the farmers themselves, the project sought the expertise of external speakers, ecologists and other upland farmers; educated the farmers on the best means of managing and protecting their own specific upland area; and engaged with local communities to highlight the importance of the uplands in providing ecosystems services.
Central to the project’s success, Catriona explained, was its discussion group format – allowing the conversation to flow freely from the topics of production, environment and biodiversity.
“Everything was outside, the uplands were the classrooms. Biodiversity is part of our natural capital and cultural heritage and it’s not a standalone topic,” Catriona said.
A bottom up, town down approach was central to the project’s success, with the farmer-lead operational group allowing the project to achieve its desired outcomes, namely: the acquisition of new knowledge; learning by doing and co-learning with experts; knowledge sharing with the local communities; and the preservation of traditions, history, place names and farming practices for the next generation.
Future blueprints
From her experience working in the EIP project, Catriona explained that any future Blueprint for the Comergah Uplands needs to have a focus on the knowledge and education elements.
“The uplands need to be managed to deliver a diverse mix of ecosystem services that optimise the human, natural, and cultural resources available. There is no one–size–fits–all solution. New knowledge is required.
“There is a need for upland management systems that maintain the upland farming tradition and develop a new range of economic, environmental, and socially viable systems that will attract the next generation.
“We need these places to be places where people want to live. Farmers have to be able to earn money to stay there with their families. It has to be a nice place to live to keep going into the next generation,” Catriona said.
In terms of education, recommendations included the development of a long-term, ‘specific to the uplands’ education module, which is targeted locally and consists of in-the field learning, as Ivan Kelly, Teagasc Environment Specialist at Teagasc, is currently involved in. Education around schemes, particularly results-based concepts was also recommended. One key education recommendation of note was: ‘Training should be done before or at the very start of any scheme. This training needs to be significant and not just one day, one size fits all and be specific to the uplands’.
On a review of results-based concepts, it was stated that “it’s a two-year process for farmers to get the results-based concept, but it needs to be repeated and repeated and repeated over years so that other factors like production and improvement, which farmers are more exposed to and lean towards, do not overtake it in priority.”
Catriona reiterated findings of Walsh Scholar, Oliver Gill’s thesis on ‘The monetary effects of adjusting farm management techniques and stocking rates to maximise climate and biodiversity ecosystem services in the Comeragh Mountain Uplands’.
Oliver found that from interviews with Comeragh Upland Farmers, 87.5% of participants identified one-to-one interaction with their advisors in their top three most preferred sources of information. He also identified the need for ‘advisor training that allows for professional development opportunities for advisors, with a focus on upland-specific knowledge and skills, to enhance their effectiveness in supporting farmers’.
While farmers and advisors are waiting for the ACRES landscape action, upland farmers cannot physically and financially do what’s needed to be done alone; the problems are too big in huge tracts of land. Farmers need assistance from advisors and each other so that logical actions, targeted appropriately, are selected.
As part of the EIP project, Over 34 people from a wide range of departments, institutions, organisations, projects and communities contributed to the project and made it a success for the farmers and rural community. It was based on building trust, integrating ecosystems services and collaboration. Catriona insists: “Going forward we need this collaborative and integrated approach for the uplands.”
Access Catriona’s full presentation from the Uplands Symposium
The full Comeragh Upland Communities EIP Project is available to view here