January 2025 sees the launch of the Farmer-focussed Biodiversity and agricultural knowledge Network (FarmBioNet) Project. The project, led by Teagasc, the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, is funded by the European Union under the €93.5 billion Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation.

FarmBioNet aims to identify biodiversity-friendly farming practices and help farmers to provide habitats that will offer food, safety and shelter for biodiversity on their farms. It will establish Farming and Biodiversity National Networks, consisting of farmers, foresters, researchers, NGOs, advisors, and other relevant Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) actors.

FarmBioNet will use these national networks to gather and disseminate knowledge and information. The networks will use biodiversity-friendly case-study areas to promote exchange of traditional and evidence-based actions that benefit farm biodiversity, through a co-creation and cross-fertilisation process.

The project will conduct a cost-benefit analysis, showing how biodiversity can benefit sustainable food production. It will also develop practical decision-making tools to promote biodiversity with farmers, foresters and policy makers.

The three-year FarmBioNet project will enable all farmers to understand how biodiversity-friendly their farm is, and what simple, low-cost actions they can take to work towards improving their whole farm for biodiversity without negatively impacting on productivity.

“Every farm has scope to significantly improve biodiversity before it starts to cost anything. Farmers and scientists working together can identify where this slack lies and target measures to take advantage of it. It's such an easy win,” said Andrew Bergin, Farming for Nature Ambassador and Executive Committee member.

Project Coordinator and Research Officer in Teagasc, Dr Saorla Kavanagh commented: “This project will use a multi-actor approach to come up with solutions to protect biodiversity. I believe that by working together we can generate practical and measurable actions that will help our biodiversity and farmers. In taking action to protect biodiversity, we start a chain reaction that has positive benefits for the general health of the environment, as well as our own wellbeing and that of future generations.”