Trinity Business School

Contact Us Trinity Business School
Trinity College
182 Pearse St
Dublin 2
D02 F6N2
Ireland

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business@tcd.ie

Martha O’Hagan-Luff and Catherine Farrell

“CIE Tours is excited to be part of this pioneering project as it directly supports the biodiversity in a region of great importance to us, the Burren, and the farming community located there. This action-oriented project supported by rigorous research could help shape how business and nature interact with each other going forward and we are excited and honoured to be part of it.”

Stephen Cotter, Managing Director, CIE Tours

Project Name: The Cross-Cultural Adjustment of NCHDs Working and Living in Ireland

Problem addressed by the research

To meaningfully address our biodiversity and climate crises, Ireland needs to focus on making farming for nature sustainable and scalable on farms across the country. But how are farmers going to receive the funding and the training they need to make the transition?

Project description

Partnering with businesses and the farming community, Professors Catherine Farrell and Martha O’Hagan Luff are researching how to create a long-term funding mechanism for farmers to restore nature on their land, enable businesses to invest in actions which will provide habitats for nature, and complement public sector agri-environmental schemes. To do this, they are taking an interdisciplinary approach in a research team that includes Professor Jane Stout from the School of Natural Sciences. ReFarm held a stakeholder engagement workshop in Trinity Business School on April 7th 2025, with presentations from the ReFarm team and a series of discussion groups to inform research direction.

Project outcomes so far

Professor Farrell’s and O’Hagan-Luff’s project, ReFarm, has raised over €1.3 million from corporate investors and the Research Ireland funded research centre BiOrbic to fund an ambitious research programme and naturepositive actions on Irish farms. Wildlife ponds, hedgerows, woodland copses and multi-species grasslands have and/or will be created on 60 farms across Ireland in 2024 and 2025. Payments will be made in subsequent years for the maintenance of these nature habitats, providing benefits for nature and for farmers. To do this, the research team will be collaborating with RWE, who are co-funding the research with BiOrbic. The team is also collaborating with BurrenBeo Trust and the Farming for Nature Network.

ReFarm has already significantly impacted many stakeholders, even before project completion. Farmers have received critical financial support and advice to create and maintain habitats for nature. The project’s funders - RWE, CIE tours, John Paul Construction, Community Foundation Ireland and Trinity Business School - have been updated about the impact of their investment on nature and research findings to date.

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