Farmland and the Impact of

Agriculture

Northern Ireland Biodiversity:

(All Photographs from Northern Ireland Biodiversity Strategy Proposals June 1999. The Stationary Office Limited.)

• Farming is both the largest industry and the major land use in N.Ireland

• Farmland habitats cover 67% of the total land area

• Habitats can be divided into several broad types based on the intensity of agricultural practice :-

• Semi-natural grassland (5.7%) characterized by non-intensive livestock grazing and mowing

The small blue butterfly Cupido minimus has declined by 25% over the last 25 years.

• Species-rich habitat with > 30 flowering plant species in a tiny patch of turf and abundance of associated arthropods

• Hay meadow (0.4%) represents a traditional non-intensive farming practice• Habitat now largely replaced with silage production• 97% loss of hay meadow over the past 50 years

The Irish hare Lepus timidus hibernicus is a distinct subspecies of the mountain hare found only in Ireland.

• Arable, or cultivated, land (6.9%) is generally used to produce vegetable or cereal crops • Very widespread habitat in the past• Today, mostly converted to improved grassland and the remaining resource is typically

intensively managed

The corn bunting Miliaria calandra is now extinct in the province. Last recorded in N.Ireland in the early 1980s.

• Improved grassland (87%) is a high input/ output,intensively managed habitat• Formed from reclamation of semi-natural grasslands, hay meadows and arable land• Very low conservation interest

Flocks of whooper and Bewick’s swans that over winter in N.Ireland largely feed on improved grassland

Current and Future Strategies for Conservation

• Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform 1999

• The Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) scheme

• The Countryside Management Scheme (CMS)

• The Organic Farming Scheme 1999• Northern Ireland Biodiversity Group

(NIBG)

The Key to the Future of Farmland Biodiversity

in N.Ireland

• Re-education of the farming community to embrace more environmentally sound management practices

• Implementation of the NIBG proposals• Continued governmental support for current

and future agri-enviromental schemes