Carlow families shortlisted to be Farming for Nature Ambassadors

FOUR farming families from Co Carlow have been shortlisted as candidates for the national Farming for Nature Ambassadors Network. They have been shortlisted following a partnership between Carlow County Council, Carlow IFA, Carlow ICA, Teagasc, ACRES, NPW, and partner organisations operating in the county, with the intention of having a Carlow representative in the National Farming for Nature Ambassador Awards in 2026.

The four farmers are:

• Eric and Catherine Osborne from Rathanna – an architect and teacher/former Carlow ICA secretary, they run a local pub and farm sucklers and sheep. They recently discovered Marsh Fritillary butterfly habitat on their farm through a ‘Hare’s Corner’ plan for nature, along with several other really nice habitats, such as wet woodland. The farm is used by ACRES and others as a demo/training site for species-rich grassland management 

• Leonie Baldwin and Andrew Llyod, Knockroe – Andrew is a retired lecturer in sciences, and the couple are sheep farmers who have been managing traditional hay meadows from the inception of REPS to current ACRES programme, and all agri-environment schemes in between. They also have a considerable number of stone walls on a relatively small landholding, and discovered medieval rock art on some of these walls several years ago 

• Richard Brennan from Leighlinbridge – Richard has a family-run combined-shop/café/pub in the village. Formerly a sheep farmer, he’s now in tillage, partly converted to organic, and rest is in conversion, currently using red clover to build soil fertility and growing husky oats. He reinstated a pond several years ago, as the land had previously been drained. He’s also part of village’s pollinator group and a member of FarmBioNet, the Europe-wide farmer-focused biodiversity and agricultural knowledge network 

• Michael Purcell, Lacken – a former dairy, now beef farmer, and chair of Carlow IFA, he has planted shelter belts as part of a Department of Agriculture scheme from the 1950s/60s. Michael carried out a bit of hedge-laying earlier this year under ACRES, a vanishing skill, has a quarter-acre of woodland that is self-established from a REPS-era habitat, keeps bees (inherited from a neighbour) and is part of the Carlow beekeepers group.

A celebration event will take place in Myshall Community Hall this Saturday, 16 August, from 10.30am. It is a Heritage Week event, funded by NPWS under the Local Biodiversity Action Fund, as an action of the Carlow Biodiversity Action Plan.

On the day, minister for nature, heritage and biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan, will give an opening address, reflecting on farming for nature in general, the shortlisted Carlow farmers and National Heritage Week.

This will be followed by an address from Dr Brendan Dunford, Burrenbeo Trust and the Farming for Nature Programme, reflecting on the national Network of Farming for Nature Ambassadors, their role in greater detail, and the contribution of such farmers in nature conservation and restoration.

Each farmer will then be introduced by one of the following organisations (Carlow IFA, Carlow ICA, Acres and Teagasc) and a short, pre-recorded video will be played, bringing the audience beyond the farm gate to see what farming for nature looks like in Carlow.

The target audience for the event is both farming and non-farming members of the Carlow community, and it will be a celebration of pro-active and nature-conscious farming neighbours, and the positive side of farming in general.

It also follows on from the very positive Heritage Council-funded Blackstairs Landscape Community Learning project undertaken last year, which included organised farm walks with current Farming for Nature Ambassador Jack Browne and others.

A light lunch will follow, with the opportunity to meet and greet these Farming for Nature candidates.

Commenting on the overall project, Carlow’s biodiversity officer Shane Casey said: “Some of the best examples of biodiversity in Co Carlow occur on farmland, and it’s important that we give full credit to the farming families who have been actively managing its conservation, for generations in many cases, and to support this critical role going forward.

“I’ve always been struck, when visiting farmers around Carlow, by the pride they place in their little corner of the world and the efforts they make to retain, conserve and restore nature on their farms. What I’ve seen first hand here in Co Carlow is often at odds with the more negative narrative we regularly hear.

“Our Farming for Nature celebration is aimed at recognising and celebrating some of these Carlow farmers, and their contributions to nature locally. I grew up on a farm in the Burren, where farmers are recognised as custodians of that landscape. We have high nature value landscapes here in Carlow also, and farmers have always been, and will continue to be, on the frontline of their conservation and restoration. It’s important to acknowledge and support this role.”