Land reclamation by farmers – Grant application

The Land Reclamation by Farmers initiative, formally launched in 1994, represents a collaborative effort between participating landowners and Land and Forest Iceland to enhance the ecological integrity of agricultural lands. Eligibility requires that the land in question exhibits erosion or sparse vegetation, and that grazing pressure remains moderate.

The project aims to incentivise landowners to safeguard and rehabilitate land ecosystems by mitigating accelerated erosion and vegetation loss, restoring moorland habitats, promoting sustainable land management practices, improving land quality, and conserving and restoring biodiversity.

Participant responsibilities include:

• Procuring and purchasing fertilisers.

• Arranging for the transport and distribution of fertilisers to the operational area.

• Maintaining accurate records of fertiliser distribution, including livestock fertilisers.

• Identifying operational locations using geographical data (GPX/KML files or the Land Reclamation by Farmers web viewer).

• Submitting a work completion report to Land and Forest Iceland, including geographical mapping, fertiliser quantity, type, and distributor processing width.

• Responding to inquiries and site visits from regional representatives.

Land and Forest Iceland's responsibilities encompass:

• Grant allocation in March.

• Participant advisory services.

• Seed provision as needed, with fescue and lyme grass available.

• Grant disbursement upon participant confirmation of operational implementation via geographic location (GPX/KML file/webpage) and submission of annual operational data.

• Ongoing project progress monitoring.

Costs covered by the grant

• Purchases of fertilisers. The amount of the grant is based on percentage of the price of fertiliser per tonne.

• Distribution of organic material (per hectare), livestock fertiliser, compost and bone meal.

• Distribution of other organic material after approval of the regional representative.

• Distribution of hayrolls (per number of rolls).

• Birch plants for planting, given the conditions.

• Festuca and lyme grass seeds if seeding is considered necessary.

Grant-funded expenses include:

• Fertiliser purchases (amount based on a percentage of the per-tonne price).

• Organic material distribution (per hectare) encompassing livestock fertiliser, compost, and bone meal.

• Distribution of other organic materials (upon regional representative approval).

• Hayroll distribution (per roll).

• Birch plant procurement (conditional).

• Festuca and ryegrass seeds (if seeding is deemed necessary).

Fertiliser application guidelines

To optimise nutrient uptake and reclamation outcomes, spring application is recommended for maximum efficiency.

Artificial fertiliser application rate:

• 200 kg/ha of dual-value nitrogen and phosphorus fertiliser.

Organic fertiliser:

• Ensure even distribution of hayrolls across the area, targeting a 5-10 cm surface depth post-application.

Recommended fertiliser quantity of different organic fertilisers

Other

• Project participation is annually renewed, automatically terminating after two consecutive years of inactivity.

• Regional representatives are to conduct on-site visits at least triennially; otherwise, a telephone audit will ascertain annual activity. Each audit will determine the participant's fertiliser request for the subsequent year.

• The refund price, adjusted annually based on market and LOGS price list values, will consequently vary yearly depending on the Land Reclamation by Farmers project budget and demand.

• Grant disbursement is performance-based, capped at the spring allocation amount.

• Since 2020, GPS-recorded geographic coordinates are mandatory for all participant actions. Land and Forest Iceland manages data submission for Iceland's climate accounts, requiring map-based coordination for all carbon sequestration activities.

• Participating farmers qualify for birch seedling procurement, contingent upon specific criteria. These include a minimum land area of 0.5 hectares, grazing protection measures (maintaining protection until the birch reaches a height exceeding grazing animal reach—two meters for sheep and three meters for horses), and provision of geographic coordinates for all plantings, consistent with other land reclamation projects.

• Grant recipients who do not plan to participate in the project must promptly notify Land and Forest Iceland upon reaching that decision.

Important dates