Peatlands for Prosperity’s Promise with Douglas McMillan & Donie Regan - Day 4
The poet Seamus Heaney once said, "I think of the bog as a feminine goddess-ridden ground, rather like the territory of Ireland itself." And that territory is 14- to- 21 percent bog. So, on their fourth day “Off the Beaten Craic in the Hidden Heartlands,” Irish Stew cohosts John Lee and Martin Nutty head to Shinrone in Offaly near the Tipperary border to the farm of Donie Regan, a demonstration site for Peatlands for Prosperity, the brainchild of Douglas McMillan and his Green Restoration I...
The poet Seamus Heaney once said, "I think of the bog as a feminine goddess-ridden ground, rather like the territory of Ireland itself."
And that territory is 14- to- 21 percent bog.
So, on their fourth day “Off the Beaten Craic in the Hidden Heartlands,” Irish Stew cohosts John Lee and Martin Nutty head to Shinrone in Offaly near the Tipperary border to the farm of Donie Regan, a demonstration site for Peatlands for Prosperity, the brainchild of Douglas McMillan and his Green Restoration Ireland Cooperative team.
Doug explains how centuries of peat extraction left expanses of degraded bogland, often dismissed as wastelands. But they’re fields of dreams for Doug who outlines how rewetting bogs halts carbon loss, restores biodiversity, and opens the opportunity to the wet farming techniques known as paludiculture.
Using Donie’s farm as a showroom for how paludiculture can restore economic value to bog land, Peatlands for Prosperity is testing potential hydrophilic cash crops such as bog berries, cranberries, even lettuce and celery, as well as common wetland plants like bullrushes and common reeds which can be renewable sources of building and packaging materials. Both believe wetland agriculture can offer farmers meaningful new income streams from both these kinds of crops and from earning carbon credits for maintaining carbon-sequestering bogs.
The conversation probes the challenges of farmer hesitancy, policy confusion, cultural ties to turf cutting, and how the demonstration site helps other farmers see the program’s potential.
Donie speaks passionately about witnessing wildlife return to his land, and the team discusses educational outreach, including bringing schoolchildren onto the bog to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards, the ecotourism possibilities of restored boglands, and how transforming Ireland’s peatlands could be a win-win for climate, biodiversity, farmers, and rural communities alike.
But let’s give Seamus Heaney the last word from his poem Bogland:
Our unfenced country
Is bog that keeps crusting
Between the sights of the sun
Next week Irish Stew reports from Birr Castle with a focus on the groundbreaking science done there, exemplified by the world’s largest telescope for 72 years, the mighty Leviathan of Parsonstown.
Links
Green Restoration Ireland
Douglas McMillan
Hidden Heartlands Travel Resources
Irish Stew Links
00:00 - Introduction
03:20 - Understanding peatlands
09:38 - When rocks appear
13:37 - What grows well in boglands
16:32 - Getting farmer buy in
19:18 - How Donie and Doug connected
24:57 - Resistance to transition
29:45 - How Doug began restoring peatlands
35:36 - Plugging Peatlands for Prosperity
38:49 - John & Martin Recap
40:51 - Credits
Doug McMillan
Community & Environmental Activist / Ecologist & Environmental Scientist / Management Systems Expert & Trainer
Douglas McMillan is General Manager of Green Restoration Ireland Cooperative and director of the Peatlands for Prosperity program, leading efforts to revitalize Ireland’s landscapes and rural communities through innovative ecological restoration.
As a co-founder of Green Restoration Ireland, Douglas has been instrumental in promoting biodiversity, carbon storage, and sustainable rural development initiatives since 2019. He champions certified peatlands restoration and native woodland projects, supporting nature-positive transformations and resilient rural livelihoods.
Douglas directs the Peatlands for Prosperity program, which offers practical pathways for farmers to restore wetlands and benefit from new economic opportunities through eco-services and carbon offsets. His leadership bridges ecological science with community development, positioning peatland restoration at the heart of Ireland’s climate and biodiversity strategies.
Donie Regan
Cattle Farmer
Donie Regan is a suckler farmer based in Shinrone, County Offaly, whose family farm is recognized as a demonstration site for the Peatlands for Prosperity program.
A former employee of Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Donie brings deep expertise and practical experience to wetland restoration and sustainable farming on peat soils. He collaborates with Green Restoration Ireland to showcase best practices for biodiversity and climate resilience on his Gortavally farm.
Donie’s farm features pioneering initiatives in paludiculture and climate-friendly beef production, frequently serving as a host site for farm walks and practical demonstrations attended by policymakers and rural stakeholders. His leadership helps local farmers explore new opportunities in land management and community-led restoration.
