Search Results for: farm

  • Biodiversity - Food and Farming

    Some more possibilities for your farm

    July 23, 2026 - By 

    Farm scale buffer zones such as those funded by the Waters EIP and ASSAP offer a great way to improve water quality, reduce flooding and drought conditions in the wider catchment and introduce habitat on your farm. Similarly, habitat enhancement measures often offer similar benefits for water and hydrodynamics even though the focus is more overtly on supporting wildlife. While FH Wetland Systems can advise on both of these, there is a whole suite of things that can be done on your farm to improve water quality that are worthy of further research. Online resources can help to provide guidance,…

  • Farming with Nature

    July 23, 2026 - By 

    Farmland is by a very large margin our largest land-use type, at over 50% of the surface of Ireland. EU funding and farming advice in recent decades had focused almost exclusively on creating “productive” land, farmland which can be used for food production. As a consequence, our farms have become increasingly barren of wild spaces, nature and natural habitats, even on land that is unsuitable for food production, but kept open to show up on satellite maps as “productive”. This funding focus is slowly changing to acknowledge other benefits offered by soil and land-use such as flood control, pollination, shelter…

  • Farm Buffer Zones

    April 20, 2024 - By 

    Wherever rainfall lands, it starts to flow into and through the landscape. The more we pave over the soil, converting open land into urban space, the greater the potential for flooding and pollution. The same thing happens to a lesser degree, but on a broader scale, as we drain farmland and remove space for water to rest and soak into the soil. Following are some of the solutions for repair of the hydrological cycle in our own sites, farms or river catchments. FH Wetland Systems offers SUDS and buffer zone design and consultancy as well as plant supply and maintenance…

  • Food and Farming - Ponds

    Ponds for farms and communities, step by step – video with Green Foundation Ireland

    April 24, 2023 - By 

    Posted on 24 Apr 2023 by Green Foundation Ireland, in this talk Feidhlim Harty gives an overview of pond design and construction to help landowners and local communities create new ponds. Ponds provide valuable habitat for wildlife as well as beautiful areas to walk near and watch nature. We explore siting, sizing, shape, edge slope, depth and aftercare; looking at the steps needed to get from discussing the initial idea through to design, construction and finish.

  • Water Management Plans

    June 24, 2026 - By 

    Wherever rainfall lands, it starts to flow into and through the landscape. The more we pave over the soil, converting open land into urban space, the greater the potential for flooding and pollution. To address these twin issues redesign of stormwater is needed to ensure that no water should leave an impermeable surface without first being introduced to plants and having time to sit around and chat with them. Examples of stormwater systems that allow this to happen include rain gardens, swales, stormwater wetlands and ponds, bioretention areas, tree pits and similar measures. These are all variations on a theme…

  • Food and Farming - Stormwater and SUDS - Wastewater - Water - the wider picture

    Water Miracle

    June 24, 2026 - By 

    Our waterways are in crisis. Only about 1% of Ireland’s rivers and streams are pristine; down from nearly 15% in the 1980s. Despite a legal obligation to achieve “good” status for our waterways by 2027, we’ve hovered around only 55% of waterways at this status since 1987. The targets aren’t just to keep within EU law; they are essential to being rebuilding habitat for vulnerable aquatic wildlife and for helping support Irish biodiversity and for our own water quality needs. So if we’ve tried for nearly 30 years to achieve improvements in water quality with essentially zero success, why should…

  • Climate - Food and Farming

    Global Considerations

    June 25, 2025 - By 

    When we look at water quality we often forget that it’s not just related to what we dump into rivers or streams locally that is the issue. Water quality in our rivers and streams will depend on what happens within the wider catchment; all of the land use from the tops of the surrounding hills down to the river bed and everything in between. Not only that, but on a wider level, our purchasing habits have a direct bearing on water quality far away from our local area. The mindmaps below have been prepared as part of webinars on ecology,…

  • Rewilding

    Proxies in Rewilding – Win-Win Land Management

    April 3, 2025 - By 

    First published on December 12, 2024 in Horticulture Connected. Link below. In a changing world that urgently needs both local food and space for nature, Féidhlim Harty finds ways to combine these needs by using proxies in small-scale rewilding initiatives. Rewilding is a term that excites as much reticence as enthusiasm, depending on your perspective. To the lover of nature, rewilding promises ecological recovery, escape from the threat of an unfolding mass extinction event, and a reprieve for biodiversity. To many in the farming community, rewilding poses a threat to a familiar way of life, a final push away from…

  • Food and Farming - Stormwater and SUDS - Wastewater - Water - the wider picture

    It’ll take a miracle… and we can do that

    April 2, 2025 - By 

    Our waterways are in crisis. Only about 1% of Ireland’s rivers and streams are pristine; down from nearly 15% in the 1980s. Despite a legal obligation to achieve “good” status for our waterways by 2027, we’ve hovered around only 55% of waterways at this status since 1987. The targets aren’t just to keep within EU law; they are essential to rebuilding habitat for vulnerable aquatic wildlife and for helping support Irish biodiversity and for our own water quality needs. So if we’ve tried for nearly 30 years to achieve improvements in water quality with essentially zero success, why should we…