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\n 5 hrs ago\n <\/p>\n
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\n Jack Morley<\/p>\n
@the_rewildlife<\/p>\n
I\u2019VE SPENT THE last two years talking to a lot of people doing brilliant things for Irish nature. I\u2019ve introduced a few to you on The Journal before. Landowners, animal rescues, individuals humbly doing their part to restore our landscape and often without proper recognition.<\/p>\n
There is also a growing number of farmers who want to do something for biodiversity, but don\u2019t know where to start, don\u2019t have the time to wade through paperwork, and can\u2019t afford to gamble money on it.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly the gap ReFarm<\/a> was built to fill, and when I heard about their project in Wicklow, I had to learn more.\n<\/p>\n So, what is ReFarm?<\/p>\n ReFarm is a not-for-profit set up by Anke Heydenreich, a sustainability investor focused on a range of social impact, biodiversity and sustainable development initiatives, and Dr Brendan Dunford, the ecologist behind two decades of farmer-led restoration work such as the Burrenbeo Trust<\/a> \u2014 the charity responsible for initiatives such as Farming for Nature<\/a>, The Hare\u2019s Corner<\/a> and the Burren Winterage Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jack Morley, Rewildlife\n<\/p>\n The idea is simple, but genuinely clever: rather than buying up land to rewild it, ReFarm raises blended finance \u2014 a mix of public and private funding \u2014 and pays farmers directly to carry out biodiversity actions on the land they already farm. I\u2019ll come back to exactly how that funding model works a bit further down.<\/p>\n Given that farmers manage roughly 70% of the land in this country, that\u2019s not a small detail. As Brendan put it to me, \u201cwhen it comes to the crisis that we have in Ireland at the moment around biodiversity, we view farmers as the solution, and we\u2019re prepared to invest in that.\u201d<\/p>\n In conjunction with the actions, Trinity College Dublin, ReFarm\u2019s independent research partner, is leading a multiannual research programme, led by Professor Jane Stout and Professor Martha O\u2019Hagan.<\/p>\n But what struck me most, talking to farmer after farmer, wasn\u2019t just the smart funding model or the research. It was how fast and how easy the whole process is.<\/p>\n Wildlife ponds, and lots of them<\/p>\n ReFarm works with farmers all over Ireland, and its first public-private partnership project was trialled in County Wicklow. In partnership with Wicklow County Council, ReFarm\u2019s milestone project focused on one crucial wildlife habitat: ponds.<\/p>\n Not garden ponds \u2014 proper wetland habitats, with a minimum size of 150 square metres and a budget of up to \u20ac3,000 per farm, though the average pond dug in Wicklow has come in at around 761 square metres.<\/p>\n Jack Morley, Rewildlife\n<\/p>\n It\u2019s a strong habitat to start with. As ecologist Aoife O\u2019Rourke, who works with farmers on the ground to plan and site each pond, explained to me: \u201cPonds are hotspots for wildlife. They support 60% of all of our native freshwater species. They\u2019ve been shown to host more freshwater animal and plants than their larger water body counterparts, such as rivers, lakes, streams and ditches.\u201d<\/p>\n Brendan agrees ponds were the right place to focus. \u201cWe considered the ponds to be a really good place to start, because they\u2019re very powerful for wildlife,\u201d he told me. \u201cIt\u2019s also very important in terms of managing water flow. And I think from the point of view of wellbeing, personal wellbeing, they\u2019re really important as well. So they\u2019re a fantastic investment.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul Carberry farms 50 acres in West Wicklow with his wife Kathleen, and had already dug two ponds on the land before ReFarm came along. He participated in the ReFarm project and said the application itself was refreshingly painless: \u201cthe process of the whole application for the grant aid\u2026 was reasonably simple to do.\u201d Because the ponds are shallow \u2014 under a metre deep \u2014 there\u2019s little in the way of planning hurdles either.<\/p>\n For Paul, it\u2019s not his first go at this, so he knows what\u2019s coming. \u201cWith ponds, they form a life of their own,\u201d he told me. \u201cAll the amphibians and different plants and birds, and particularly wetland birds\u2026 it\u2019s fantastic.\u201d He\u2019d recommend it to any farmer with even a small awkward corner of land: \u201cthe value that brings to the farm\u2026 I\u2019d rather have a pond any day\u201d.<\/p>\n Jack Morley, Rewildlife\n<\/p>\n Down the road at Castleruddery Organic Farm<\/a>, Hilda Crampton had a similar experience, but hers really brings home just how quick ReFarm can move.<\/p>\n \u201cCommunication was practically instantaneous,\u201d she said. \u201cEverything to do with payments and repayments, it happened so quickly. We were absolutely in shock at how fast it all happened.\u201d<\/p>\n An ecologist visited her farm, walked the land with her, and identified the perfect spot for a pond in a damp, boggy corner that wasn\u2019t doing much for the farm anyway. Two days after the diggers arrived, there was a fully formed pond where scrubby wet ground had been. \u201cIt looks like it was always there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Public and private investment<\/p>\n So how does the funding actually work? ReFarm\u2019s co-founder Anke Heydenreich describes it as blended finance: money from businesses and public bodies, invested in farmers, who in turn invest it in nature.<\/p>\n \u201cReFarm Wicklow is a perfect example of how blended finance came together to work with farmers, to invest in nature,\u201d she told me.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea is to prove that it makes environmental, social and economic sense so we can replicate it nationally across different counties and possibly further afield.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the businesses backing ReFarm is construction firm John Paul Construction. Their funding, alongside a mix of other corporate and philanthropic funders and public funding from Wicklow County Council, has financed the Wicklow ponds. Mike McLoughlin, the company\u2019s head of health and safety and sustainability, described it to me as a genuine public-private partnership for nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jack Morley, Rewildlife\n<\/p>\n With growing pressure on businesses to report on sustainability, he said ReFarm stood out because of the credibility behind it: \u201cYou have the research side from Trinity, you have Brendan, that level of expertise\u2026 It\u2019s a recipe that can really work.\u201d He was also clear-eyed about the scale of the opportunity: \u201cThis is a project with 100-plus farmers, but this is something that every farmer in Ireland could be involved in.\u201d<\/p>\n On the public side sits Wicklow County Council. Biodiversity officer Hannah O\u2019Kelly said the council chose to start with ponds specifically because they knew it would capture people\u2019s imagination \u2014 and it worked. \u201cWe very quickly got a dozen farmers or landowners who were interested,\u201d she said, \u201cthere was very little paperwork involved\u2026 it was all very clear what they had to do and what they were going to get in return.\u201d Wicklow\u2019s new Biodiversity Action Plan<\/a> carries 50 actions over the next five years, and she\u2019s clear that no single scheme will reverse biodiversity loss on its own \u2014 but partnerships like this one, bringing together councils, businesses, researchers and farmers, are exactly the kind of collaboration needed to make a dent.<\/p>\n Following a successful first year, Wicklow County Council is providing its own funding for a second ReFarm Wicklow pilot in 2026 \u2014 a round that\u2019s already closed, having been heavily oversubscribed with farmers looking to take part. The model is spreading too, with four more county councils \u2014 Leitrim, Longford, Laois and Meath \u2014 launching their own county pond projects with ReFarm this year.<\/p>\n The science behind the splash<\/p>\n Ireland has lost a huge number of its ponds to decades of agricultural drainage. Kate Harrington, an ecologist and researcher with Trinity College Dublin, was keen to stress how disproportionately valuable the ones that remain \u2014 or the new ones being dug \u2014 really are.<\/p>\n Jack Morley Rewildlife\n<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been some studies done which have shown that with ponds across a landscape, there can be more biodiversity there than there can be in river or lake systems,\u201d she told me. \u201cEven though they\u2019re small, they\u2019re greater than the sum of their parts.\u201d<\/p>\n Getting involved<\/p>\n What comes through in every single conversation I had in Wicklow is that this isn\u2019t a scheme bogged down in red tape. It\u2019s fast, it\u2019s well supported by ecologists on the ground, and it pays farmers properly for land that, in a lot of cases, wasn\u2019t doing much for them anyway.<\/p>\n As Brendan put it, ReFarm has worked with around 80 farms across Ireland so far, and the plan now is to keep learning, keep sharing those findings openly, and keep growing the number of farmers and funders involved. ReFarm is on track to double the amount of funding deployed and double the number of farmers participating in 2026.<\/p>\n ReFarm\u2019s next round is already oversubscribed, a clear sign that this is a wanted and needed initiative. But the bigger message coming out of this pilot is a wider one \u2014 for funders, local authorities and the public alike, it\u2019s a clear demonstration of just how valuable a resource our farmers are when it comes to restoring Irish nature.<\/p>\n As Aoife O\u2019Rourke put it: \u201cIf there was one action that I would ask people to take, if they wanted to bring nature back to the land, it would be by creating a clean, fresh water wildlife pond.\u201d<\/p>\n You can follow Jack Morley\u2019s Irish nature journey on his Instagram @the_rewildlife<\/a> or on YouTube @TheRewildlife<\/a>. If you have land you\u2019d like to rewild, you can learn more here: Rewildyourland.ie.<\/a>\u00a0For more on ReFarm, visit refarm.ie.\u00a0<\/p>\n ![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788364117_619_.png\")
\n Hilda Crampton, Organic Farmer. Jack Morley, Rewildlife<\/p>\n![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788364118_875_.png\")
\n Hilda Crampton’s new pond on her farm in west Wicklow. Jack Morley, Rewildlife<\/p>\n![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788364118_52_.png\")
\n Paul Carberry’s pond. Jack Morley, Rewildlife<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788364119_260_.png\")
\n Paul Carberry giving a tour of his pond. Jack Morley, Rewildlife<\/p>\n
For Hannah, ReFarm is one piece of a much bigger puzzle.<\/p>\n![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788364120_138_.png\")
\n Ponds, ponds, ponds, are key. Jack Morley Rewildlife<\/p>\n