Origin Green 'Pathways to Biodiversity' - a Company Viewpoint Webinar

Origin Green, Bord Bia's food sustainability programme, in conjunction with the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (AIPP) will be hosting the next 'Pathways to Biodiversity' webinars. The webinar will focus on how companies are interacting with the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and Bord Bia's Origin Green programme to deliver on actions for pollinators as an entry level into biodiversity on any site. The webinar will include two 10-minute 'short talks' from Rachel Nugent - Corporate Responsibility Manager at ALDI Ireland and Marek Pisarczyk - Marketing Manager at McCormack Family Farms. Also Dr. Saorla Kavanagh Project Manager with the National Biodiversity Data Centre will also give a brief overview on the 'Protecting Farmland Pollinators' EIP Project. 

Background – Protecting Farmland Pollinators EIP Project 

The National Biodiversity Date Centre’s research project ‘Protecting Farmland Pollinators’, has completed its first phase of fieldwork. It is a five-year, €1.2 million research project, funded under the European Innovation Partnerships (EIP) programme, co-funded by the European Union and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. 

The ‘Protecting Farmland Pollinators’ project is engaging with 40 farmers and will develop and test a whole-farm pollinator scoring system and identify what management practices on Irish farmland benefit pollinators. The farmland pollinator score is based on five criteria: 1. Flowering native hedgerows;  2. Pollinator-friendly trees;  3. Low to zero pesticide inputs;  4. Flowering margin of 0.5 to 2 metres around field edge (left untilled or fenced off from livestock); 5. Flowers (e.g. wildflower meadow, flower-rich pasture, cover crop, herbal ley.