Effects of an agri-environment scheme on farmland biodiversity in Ireland

Agricultural sustainability: concepts, principles and evidence

“…A larger number of countries have reformed parts of agricultural policies, such as China's support for integrated ecological demonstration villages, Kenya's catchment approach to soil conservation, Indonesia's ban on pesticides and programme for farmer field schools, Bolivia's regional integration of agricultural and rural policies, Sweden's support for organic agriculture, Burkina Faso's land policy and Sri Lanka and the Philippines' stipulation that water users' groups be formed to manage irrigation systems. In Europe and North America, a number of agri-environmental schemes have been implemented in the past decade (Dobbs & Pretty 2004), though their success has been patchy (Kleijn et al 2001;Marggraf 2003;Carey et al 2005;Feehan et al 2005;Herzog et al 2005; Meyer-Aurich 2005). A good example of a carefully designed and integrated programme comes from China (Li Wenhua 2001).…”

An Insight Into the Impact of Arable Farming on Irish Biodiversity: A Scarcity of Studies Hinders a Rigorous Assessment

“…However, the long-term environmental harm of applying methiocarb-based slug pellets on non-target organisms appeared to be relatively slight in those authors' opinion (Purvis and Bannon 1992). Although the effects of herbicides have only been tentatively studied on arable farms (Feehan et al 2005), it is believed that their use over the past half-century has halved the number of wild plants and animal species associated with farmland and has greatly reduced the overall population size of most species (Feehan 2003).…”

“…'Green' set-aside has since emerged within the context of multihnctional agriculture in the EU to also become part of some agri-environment schemes (Sotherton 3998). Rotational set-aside helps to maintain more land under winter stubble, as farmers previously One of the original stated objectives of REPS was 'to protect wildlife habitats and endangered species of flora and fauna' (Teagasc 2007); but throughout the scheme's specifications the main emphases have been extensification and waterpollution reduction (Feehan et al 2005). However, investigating the plant flora and carabid beetle species richness in field boundaries on REPS and non-REPS tillage fam~s, Feehan et al (2005) found species richness was actually similar on both.…”

“…Rotational set-aside helps to maintain more land under winter stubble, as farmers previously One of the original stated objectives of REPS was 'to protect wildlife habitats and endangered species of flora and fauna' (Teagasc 2007); but throughout the scheme's specifications the main emphases have been extensification and waterpollution reduction (Feehan et al 2005). However, investigating the plant flora and carabid beetle species richness in field boundaries on REPS and non-REPS tillage fam~s, Feehan et al (2005) found species richness was actually similar on both. The authors concluded that farms that had participated in the scheme for at least four years, so far, showed little beneficial impact on the diversity of flora and surveyed fauna groups.…”

A review of evidence on the environmental impact of Ireland's Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS)

“…Purvis et al (2009a, p. 17-20) Critique of expected effects of REPS 4 on habitats and hoverfly diversity. Included REPS status as a variable in multivariate analysis of habitats on 50 farms (thirteen of which were REPS participants) Field margins Feehan et al (2005) Fritch et al (2009, 2011, Purvis et al (2009a), Sheridan et al (2008Sheridan et al ( , 2009 Finn et al (2007Finn et al ( , 2009 Finn et al (2008b) Kelly (2008) Carlin et al (2010) Multi-criteria analysis used to assess the effectiveness of REPS (and Italian scheme) based on data in the mid-term evaluation only. Experts' ratings of measures in REPS 2.…”