RESEARCH carried out by the the department of geography in UCC on the Iveragh Peninsula has confirmed many fears about a changing landscape and ways of life.

Here, UCC's Ruth McDonnell writes about some of the key findings and what lies in store for Iveragh, its habitat and its people.

Land abandonment is a big threat to the ecology of upland areas in Iveragh. According to a research group in UCC, overexploitation and EU subsidy-driven overstocking have changed farming practices.

The Irish uplands are of high cultural, recreational and nature conservation value. Farming and nature have co-evolved in the hills to the extent that today, the conservation of the rich biodiversity contained within the internationally important upland heather moorlands and blanket bog habitats requires the continuation of farming systems, especially sustainable grazing and rotational burning.

The research team have not found evidence for large scale abandonment of the Iveragh uplands, but a change in the traditional farming system is evident. Today, the vast majority of the hill farmers are combining full time off-farm work with part time farming. Part-time farming tends to lead to a simplification of the farm management system, resulting in localised over- and undergrazing.

The research highlights the trend towards moving farming down slope, and concentrating the farming system around the reclaimed 'green land', generally positioned around the farm yard, and the less intensive use of the upland rough grazing and commonage.

This system may reduce time-consuming herding up the mountain, but the reduced grazing of the high uplands has ecological implications.

For example, if heather is left ungrazed it will dominate the hillside within a short period of time but, under a moderate grazing regime, it will contribute to a species- rich mosaic of habitats.

There has also been a change in traditional sheep breeds. In order to reach market demands for heavier lamb, the traditional Scottish Blackface sheep breed is increasingly crossed with lowland breeds, resulting in an overall ' softening' in sheep breeds. They are not as well suited to the rigours of the Iveragh uplands; they do not forage as well as the rustic breeds and require supplementary feeding over the winter.

Similarly, the decline in the winter grazing of the uplands by cattle, such as the rustic Kerry cow, has resulted in the spread of strong grasses, bracken, gorse and hard rush, which the sheep cannot control.

Research indicates that the traditional mixed cattle and sheep enterprise is the most effective in maintaining high nature value upland habitats. The ' rewilding' of the uplands as well as the breakdown in the traditional management system makes hill walking more difficult and increases the risk of wild fires, and their danger to nearby settlements and forest plantations.

The current orientation in European agricultural policy is committed, on the one hand, to corporate- driven intensive agriculture that can compete on globalised markets while, on the other hand, acknowledging the role of 'traditional' agriculture in maintaining the considerable environmental and aesthetic assets of the European countryside, along with its social cohesion.

However, very few hill sheep farmers in disadvantaged areas like Iveragh can make a viable living solely from farming. Of the 80 Iveragh hill sheep farmers surveyed in this research it was found that only 19 per cent of households, (many of whom had no family), were fully dependent on their farms as their sole source of income.

European and Irish policymakers are encouraging Irish farmers and their European counterparts to get involved in farm diversification (or multifunctionalism to use the current policy term) in order to supplement their income.

Such diversification could involve the development of niche markets for high value food products, agritourism, biodiversity conservation, the provision of environmental services and countryside management. (One farming family on the Iveragh peninsula has come up with an innovative and successful web-based 'adopt a mountain sheep' initiative).

The research team found that farm diversification and multifunctionalism are, at present, little more than abstract policy concepts that have a rather low uptake on the ground; even though the Iveragh Peninsula is a high tourist destination with spectacular landscapes. Apart from involvement in agri- environmental programmes (REPS) the majority of the upland farmers surveyed in this research and their spouses have opted for offfarm work, rather than diversifying their farm activities.

Only 17 per cent of the surveyed hill farmers were involved in income generating tourism services which, on average, contributed less than 25 per cent to the family farm income. A 2004 survey undertaken by the tourism steering group of the Kerry County Development Board found that of the estimated 1.8 million tourists who visit the region annually, 49 per cent stayed in a hotel, 23 per cent in a guesthouse and only one per cent opted for farm house accommodation.

Rural bed and breakfast establishments are in decline nationwide. The farmers argue that it is the hoteliers in the local towns of Killarney, Kenmare and Dingle, who benefit most from the natural countryside heritage that they maintain. It has been suggested that the hoteliers should pay a tax towards the maintenance of the spectacular landscapes that their clients come to view and savour.

There are also perceived to be major obstacles in the way to developing local food labels, such as organic or Kerry lamb.

There are several technical and hygiene standards that need to be met and one has to have marketing expertise to promote and market the product. One is reminded of the difficulties in finishing the lamb because, at the moment, store lamb that comes off the mountain is too light. The cost of buying in food stuff to fatten the lambs would substantially reduce any profits.

"Perhaps

the

biggest obstacle of all is the lack of an entrepreneurial spirit and institutional backup support in actually developing quality food labels," comments Dr Eileen O'Rourke of UCC.

"A local quality lamb label would financially reward farmers for the provision of public goods and also relegitimise hill sheep farming. For the moment, off farm work is seen as an easier option and a critical livelihood strategy for marginal farm households."

Dr O'Rourke believes the The Single Farm Payment (SFP), along with agri-environmental (REPS) payments, is an important safety net for hill sheep farmers.

However, the decoupling of farm subsidies from production under the SFP is likely to have profound impacts on the management of the uplands. The highly subsidised farmers in places like the Kerry hills are increasingly being defined as 'service providers', and 'countryside managers'. The policy model for hill farming is clearly moving from one of production to one of public goods provision. It has been suggested that European mountain areas need to make the transition from 'less favoured' agricultural regions to 'highly-valued' environmental landscapes.

It would appear that the increasingly urban European and Irish populations hunger for Iveragh's landscapes rather than its mutton. However, a farmer's identity is still strongly linked with farming and producing a product rather than selling a service or an image.

The increasing importance of the so-called 'second pillar' of the CAP, will have implications for rural development, and may see funds moving out of the traditional rural agricultural sector.

Alternatively, the increasing funding of rural development may stimulate offfarm work options — once more pointing towards a diversified, multifaceted rural economy that is no longer solely synonymous with agriculture.

But, agriculture remains singularly important in rural Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. Twenty percent of the male population of Iveragh's isolated Cahersiveen Rural District are involved in farming as opposed to 6.4 per cent nationally.

There is still a strong attachment to the land, especially among the older farmers, but many of them are struggling to find a successor who will continue the tradition and divide themselves between the demands of off-farm work and parttime farming. As one Iveragh farmer put it: "Hill sheep farming is now an old man's game."

Almost 50 per cent of the surveyed farm managers did not have a definite successor. With the downturn in the construction sector, it is also increasingly difficult to find off-farm work.

However, one must remember that economic forces are not the only factors impacting on farmers' land use decisions.

History, family tradition, work satisfaction and lifestyle choices are all essential in keeping marginal upland farmers farming. If agrarian livelihoods cannot be maintained in the hills and valleys of the Iveragh peninsula there will be direct knock-on effects for ecology, rural society, tourism and the leisure industry. Should the Kerry hills become abandoned it would mark the ' end of a way of life', and we will have lost an important part of our natural and cultural heritage.

The research indicates that effective policies for the conservation of mountain biodiversity and habitats must take account of the social and economic objectives of farming families, as well as the environmental ones, in an integrated sustainable manner.

The research of the Iveragh Peninsula was funded by Science Foundation Ireland ( SFI), under the Research Frontiers Programme, with input from Dr Eileen O'Rourke, Nadine Kramm, Roz Anderson, Mark Emmerson, John O'Halloran, and Nick Chisholm, UCC.