Some 2,734 farmers in Co Galway were accepted into the first tranche of GLAS (GLAS I) this year, according to the details of a parliamentary question from Éamon Ó Cuív, Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesperson. This tranche began on 1 October 2015.

And, with only a couple more days to go until the deadline for GLAS II on Monday 14 December, Galway looks set to have the most farmers in the second tranche as well.

Mayo had the next-largest number of participants in GLAS I, with 2,322 farmers involved in the scheme. Meanwhile, the lowest number of participants were in Co Dublin (55), followed by Co Louth (137).

Tim Hyde, environment specialist with Teagasc, said he is "not surprised" that Galway has the highest number of GLAS participants.

"Galway has a large amount of natura and commonage land compared with other parts of the country," he said. "It would also have a high number of farmland birds such as the hen harrier, which pushes Galway farmers into the priority tier for GLAS. On average, Galway farmers account for between 10% and 12% of participants in previous agri-environmental schemes."

In his introduction to Teagasc's Galway/Clare Advisory Region Plan for 2015 to 2020, Brendan Heneghan, regional manager for Galway/Clare confirms that agri-environmental schemes such as GLAS have always played an important role in the region over the past 20 years. "Payments for public goods have had a double dividend – protection and enhancement of the environment together with a very important income flow into farms. The REPS scheme which has just ended resulted in some €675m income flow to farmers in the region."

According to the advisory region plan, Galway is the third largest sheep producing county in the country and farm forestry can now be regarded as a mainstream enterprise, with 3% of land in Galway in private forestry plantations.

Connemara with its mountains, lakes, blanket bogs and rock outcrops, is predominantly stocked with hill sheep and small suckler cow herds. East Galway has a wide variety of soil types such as the grey brown podzolic and shallow brown earth soils, which are very productive and suitable for a wide variety of farm enterprises. However, peat, gley and low lying soils along the Shannon and Suck valley make for difficult farming conditions.

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Rush to submit GLAS plans before deadline

Flooding threat

Farmers in the lower Shannon catchment area of Co Galway are currently dealing with flooding to their land. The flooding was instigated by Storm Desmond last weekend and continued this week due to further heavy spells of rainfall in the west of Ireland. The Shannon is slowly rising at the moment and is due to breach its banks on Sunday 13 December.

The Department of Agriculture and Teagasc have this week issued releases saying that, in emergency cases, farmers are permitted to pump some water out of flooded tanks. The Department has also announced a relaxation of some rules around the movement of animals where the welfare or lives of animals is threatened.