ARCZero to hold farm walk near Ballycastle on “The road towards net zero”

ARCZero, a farmer-led European Innovation Project co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has announced it will hold a farm walk on Wednesday 24th May 2023 on the farm of Patrick Casement near Ballycastle.

Hosted by Patrick Casement, this will be the latest in a series of successful farm walks which have been held over the past year. The farm walk will focus on how nature-based solutions can reduce carbon footprint while benefiting biodiversity and the wider environment at the same time.

Patrick has been taking steps to reduce his carbon footprint and improve economic performance through a number of measures, including increasing the clover content of his swards, planting trees, managing hedges and woodland, introducing multi-species swards, and creating wildlife and biosecurity corridors.

ARCZero, led by Professor John Gilliland of Brook Hall Estate and Queen’s University, is comprised of seven innovative farmers from across Northern Ireland together with academic and industry partners including Devenish, Queen’s University, AgriSearch and Birnie Consultancy. It has been investigating practical ways to measure, manage and reduce carbon in ruminant farming. ARCZero has created a robust baseline of both emissions and carbon stocks and is now looking at how these farms can further reduce their emissions while increasing their carbon stocks in a manner which will accelerate their journey towards Net Zero.

Farm walks will leave at 3pm and 7pm. 

Each tour will last around 2 hours. 

Everyone is welcome but pre-registration is required and can be done via the ARCZero website: www.arczeroni.org