Wild bird cover is set to become Ireland’s fifth-largest crop, with more than 20,400ha of the environmentally focused crop to be sown.

Some 10,000 farmers in all three GLAS schemes have chosen to sow the crop, which provides a source of food and winter cover for farmland birds and other animals.

Some 20,402ha of the crop is being sown by farmers in GLAS I, II and II. It also attracts a payment of €900/ha to the farmer for between 1ha and 3ha.

ADVERTISEMENT

By far the biggest crop in Ireland is grass, at more than 4.1m ha. This is followed by barley at 202,800ha and wheat at 65,154ha. Oats is the fourth-largest crop at almost 23,400ha and, not far behind, wild bird cover at almost 20,402ha.

Bird boxes

Farmers have also chosen to install huge numbers of boxes and habitats for birds, bees and bats.

Some 20,000 farmers have installed 213,000 bird boxes, while 17,000 farmers have put up 214,000 boxes for bats on their farms.

Around 4,000 farmers have erected 17,000 bee boxes, while another 14,000 farmers have created 17,000 sand habitats for bees on their farms.