Colum Ginnelly

Colum Ginnelly is an upland, conventional sheep farmer in Mulranny, Co. Mayo. He keeps 250-280 ewes on multiple commonages and even has some land on islands in Clew Bay. He keeps a lowland and hill sheep cross to produce a better-quality lamb, to make his business viable.

A keen community man, Colum was instrumental in recruiting over 150 farmers in the area to participate in the Wild Atlantic Nature pilot scheme. He says it ‘was the best thing that ever came here, as we know now what’s going on under our feet, the farmers around here look at their land completely differently now that it’s under a scoring system’.

His land stretches from the top of the Nephin Beg mountains down to the sea, giving him a deep appreciation for the habitats he manages ‘you see it all, from sea life to the heather on the hills.’ He was one of the pilot farmers that destocked in the 90s, and after their efforts, the Red Grouse returned to the area, again able to feed on the rehabilitated Bell and Ling Heather. He welcomes any scheme that helps farmers in the area farm for nature saying that farmers ‘are the custodians of the land, we look after it’. Demonstrating this, he has signed up for ACRES and an NPWS plan to fence off some overgrazed land on the mountain to record how it can recover.

NOMINATOR: Gary Goggins, LIFE Wild Atlantic Way Project

NOMINATION:
Colum Ginnelly is an upland sheep farmer based in Mulranny, Co. Mayo, where he lives with his wife and three young children. He is farming primarily on organic (peat) soils within and adjacent to the Owenduff/Nephin Complex Special Area of Conservation. Colum took over the family farm at a young age, following the untimely death of his father. He has since continued in his fathers’ tradition of farming in harmony with nature and with respect for the local environment. Colum, along with several other prominent members of the local farming community, was instrumental in building local support for the initiation of the Wild Atlantic Nature Results-Based agri-environment Payment Scheme (RBPS), which ultimately resulted in payments of more than €1m to farmers in the local area. Colum played a key role in recruitment of elderly friends and neighbours, who may not otherwise have joined the programme. This social solidarity is engrained in Colum and his family, who were also instrumental in leveraging local landowner support for the development of the hugely successful Great Western Greenway, which runs from Westport to Achill.

Colum is working with the Wild Atlantic Nature team on the implementation of several peatland restoration actions on his farm. He is also a member of the Wild Atlantic Nature farmer Knowledge Exchange programme, run by Teagasc, which focusses on environmental issues in the uplands. In his spare time, Colum provides a private-hire minibus service. He has taken several groups of visitors, including farmers, policy-makers, academics and practitioners, to visit his farm and other restoration demonstration sites in the locality. He is the perfect tour guide as he imparts his knowledge of the local area, as well as sharing his experiences as a farmer. Indeed, as well as communicating the rich cultural history, Colum enthusiastically shares his knowledge of peatland ecology, flora and fauna whilst taking groups of tourists from the US, Europe and elsewhere on trips to Achill, Connemara and the surrounding region. We are delighted to nominate Colum as a strong representative of sustainable upland farming, its people and nature.