Paul Moore is a seventh-generation farmer, running a holding, which has been in his family for three centuries.
The 2021 Farming for Nature ambassador farms a beef and tillage enterprise near Middleton in Co Cork.
The mixed 140-acre farm comprises 95-acres of tillage, producing malting barley, spring beans, winter barley and oilseed rape.
Paul has recently begun embracing regenerative practices, such as the use of multi-species cover crops, longer crop rotations and strip-tilling the spring beans.
While he is in the early stages of experimenting with such practices, he has noticed an increase in earthworms in the soil on parts of the land.
The remaining 45-acres are mature grassland, which he uses for his 35 Hereford and Angus beef cattle.
Conservation
Paul is passionate about nature conservation and managing habitats on his enterprise.
Over the years, he has planted trees on the land, managed hedgerows for birds, incorporated wildflower margins around field boundaries and increased the nature corridors where possible on the farm.
Furthermore, the land is home to many bird species, many of whom are becoming scarce in the Irish countryside.
There are barn owls, stock doves, swifts, ravens, buzzards, reed buntings, yellowhammers, meadow pipits, stonechats, starlings, house sparrows and more.
Foxes, stoats, shrews and rabbits are also a common sight on the Cork-based farm.
Biodiversity
Paul is an advocate for an economically viable and productive farming system, that simultaneously protects farmland habitats and enhances biodiversity on Irish farms.
“Areas like these help prevent flooding and provide so much biodiversity. This needs to be appreciated and supported in farm policy.”
“It is not just farmers who can make a difference; everyone has a role to play in terms of making better choices.”
“I am not the standard model for the Farming for Nature Awards. I am a commercial farmer, trying to make as much money as possible. But, I am fairly intensive, but I am doing things a little bit differently.”
“If every farmer did a little on a landscape scale and did it properly, it would all add up and have an impact. You only need to set aside 10% of farmland to be totally sustainable,” he concluded.
Farming for Nature 2021
The seventh-generation farmer is one of the ambassadors of the 2021 national Farming for Nature initiative.
Now in its fourth year, FFN aims to “source, share and celebrate the stories of farmers across Ireland who manage their land in a way that sustains nature while providing a livelihood for their families”.
The 7 ambassadors will feature at the annual Burren Winterage Weekend in October. Organisers will announce the winner of the public vote at this event.
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