The deadline is fast approaching for Year 2 entrants of the Waters of LIFE Agri-Environmental Programme pilot.

The online portal will remain open until Sunday, August 31. Programme entry for Year 2 will commence in early 2026 and is funded until 2028.

Entry is open to farmers with a herd or tillage number in any of the Waters of LIFE five demonstration sub-catchments.

So far, one quarter of farmed area within Waters of LIFE sub-catchments is already in the programme. Expressions of interest for the programme can be submitted online at watersoflife.ie/eoi/.

The Waters of LIFE agri-environmental programme is being piloted to reward farmers for protecting and improving water quality. Farmers receive results-based payments as well as payments for general and supporting actions.

Payments for Year 1 farmers have already commenced, including over €37,000 to date for training and knowledge transfer events.

The programme includes a new riverside habitat scorecard for farmers with river frontage.

It offers payments of €2,000/ha on a 10/10 habitat score for a fenced or uncultivated strip along the river in areas of improved grassland and tillage, up to a maximum width of 20m.

Eligible farmers without river frontage are also welcome to enter the programme to receive payments for other habitats and actions.

Of the five active sub-catchments, there are two in Co. Cork. The Shournagh sub-catchment runs south from Donoughmore to Tower along the Shournagh and Sheep Rivers.

In north Co. Cork, the Awbeg (Kilbrin) catchment is between Kanturk and Mallow and includes Castlemagner.

The Islands sub-catchment is in the municipal districts of Roscommon and Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. It takes in Ballinlough, Ballymoe, Granlahan, and Williamstown.

The Graney sub-catchment is in the municipal districts of Killaloe in Co. Clare and Loughrea in Co. Galway. It is based around Lough Graney and Lough Atorick and the communities of Flagmount, Dromindoora and Caher.

The Avonmore sub-catchment runs from Sallygap to Laragh in the Co. Wicklow uplands around the Glenmacnass, Inchivore and Annamoe rivers.

The Sheen catchment in Co. Kerry is a control catchment and is not included in the programme.

Agriland recently attended a farm walk in Vicarstown, Co. Cork, where the Roche family hosted a number of farmers to learn more about the Waters of LIFE funding, their robotic milking system, and their current performance.

Huge crowds gathered to see the Lely robot in action on the farm, but to also discover the funding they can avail of through Waters of LIFE.

The programme is designed to reward farmers for protecting and improving water quality.

Alec, Conor, and James Roche are farming in partnership, milking 130 cows across two blocks of land, with the assistance of a robot on each block.

They have a key focus on protecting their business through doing what they can to improve water quality.