12 June 2026

Actions to support farmland biodiversity

Farmland biodiversity is an important natural resource, and Ireland has roughly 31,500 species living within 117 habitats. As part of the Farming for a Better Future Open Day, at Teagasc, Johnstown Castle, on June 10, actions farmers can take to enhance biodiversity on their farm were discussed.

Through their paper titled: Farmland Biodiversity: Actions to maintain, enhance, diversify, and connect existing habitats and create new habitats, Saorla Kavanagh, Claudia Barry, Meritxell Grau, Niall Walshe, John Finn, Fiona Brennan, Daire Ó hUallacháin outlined the steps farmers can take to protect farmland biodiversity while maintaining a productive farm business.

Biodiversity provides us with clean air, fresh water, healthy soil, fuel, fibres and the food we eat. It can help us to mitigate against and adapt to climate change.

Despite the many benefits of biodiversity, it continues to decline and biodiversity loss has far-reaching consequences for future generations. Farmland has the capacity to make a big difference in halting biodiversity loss. The key message for managing farmland biodiversity is to, maintain first, enhance second and create if not already in existence.

Protecting farmland biodiversity, while maintaining a productive farm business is achievable by following these three key steps:

Identify what habitats are already present
Maintain, enhance, diversify and connect existing habitats
Where there are few existing habitats, create new habitats (but not on existing wildlife habitats)

Claudia Barry tells us more on the three key steps in the below video:

Every farm has some value for biodiversity, but some farms offer more value than others. One way to enhance biodiversity on your farm is to manage hedgerows less intensively.

Maintaining a diversity of habitats is important, as different habitats support different species. Different pollinators have different traits, thus supporting a larger number of species of pollinators can contribute to increased pollination and pest control, which in turn increases crop seed yield and economic value.

If invasive alien species are present, aim to remove them because they displace native species. Linear farmland features such as hedgerows, field margins and watercourses, managed appropriately can act as corridors for nature through the landscape, allowing farming and biodiversity to co-exist.

No matter what biodiversity friendly areas are on the farm, it is vital that evidence-based actions are used to manage these, to protect and enhance farmland biodiversity. It is important that new habitats such as planting trees or incorporating a pond, are located in the right part of the farm and that they do not replace existing habitats.

Six actions farmers can take that will allow biodiversity to coexist within a productive farming system include:

Allow hedgerows to flower
Create nesting sites for solitary bees
Identify species rich grassland
Plant native trees
Dig a wildlife pond
Avoid using herbicides or fertilisers under hedgerows

For further insights from the Farming for a Better Future Open Day, view the proceedings published as part of the event here.