Farmers have had a terrible couple of years. But instead of abandoning their land, many are finding new ways of making it pay - from flooding fields to create a lake for fishing to growing worms for compost.

Things weren't going too well down on the Robinson family farm. Margins had got very tight, dry stock - sheep and cattle, weren't making the prices they used to and 35 acres had become too small a holding to make any real money.

Tom Robinson's only son Dave had studied agriculture in college, but had decided he didn't want to be a farmer and went off to work in insurance instead and Tom no longer felt it was worth keeping on the farm on his own.

So one day, Tom and Dave decided to flood the farm. It may sound drastic but, Dave Robinson says, it was the best decision they ever made.

"We had to do something, the land was just not paying its way," he says. "So we took two flat ordinary grazing fields of seven-and-a-half and eight-and-a-half acres each, dug them out and flooded them."

The flooded fields were then stocked with rainbow trout and coarse fish; carp, perch and bream. The Robinsons planted 3,500 trees, erected walk-ways, built a log cabin lodge, stocked it with fishing tackle and in 1998 Rathbeggan Lakes Angling Centre was born.

"I had the idea in my head for about seven or eight years. I had gone away from farming completely and year by year it looked like an even lousier option," Dave Robinson says. "Dad was not earning a living from the farm, but we didn't want to sell, so instead we went into partnership together."

As a rural leisure facility, Rathbeggan Lakes is ideally situated: little more than a 30-minute drive from Dublin, near the village of Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. It offers fly and coarse fishing to groups and individuals, with full instruction if required. The enterprise supports five full-time staff and three part-three part time. The lakes take up between 15 and 16 acres of the Robinsons' farm land. The remainder of the 35-acre holding is given over to grazing sheep and breeding show ponies.

Now in its fourth year, the angling centre has a well-established feel, but says Robinson, getting it off the ground, or into the ground, wasn't all plain sailing.

"We had great difficulty raising the loan, because it was such a new project. So in 1995/96 I did a Teagasc alternative enterprise course and a County Enterprise Board start your own business course. I developed a business plan and it made it easier to secure a loan."

He was also able to avail of some start-up grants, including a EU agri-tourism grant and a Leader grant through the National Rural Development plan.

"This was something I'd had in my head for a long time and I knew in my heart and soul it was what I wanted. It was a brilliant challenge and it keeps two families and three full-time staff. It's more work than farming, but it's also more enjoyable."

The Robinsons' enterprise, though innovative, typifies a trend in farming. The fat of the land no longer offers the rich rewards it once did and the man with the fine big milk quota and the glint in his eye has lost something of his sheen. Farmers have had it particularly tough this year. Record rains made it difficult to cut hay, with the result that more money will have to go on supplementary feeds this winter. Yields of soft fruits and apples are expected to be down this autumn and blight is an ever-present threat. Add to this the recent animal health crises of BSE and foot-and-mouth, and life on the land starts to look pretty grim.

Some farmers have given up, taking off-farm jobs, but others, determined to stay, have developed new ways to make money from their biggest asset: the land.

"It's in the national interest that farmers stay on the land but it's increasingly difficult, particularly on smaller holdings, to get a full income from farming," says Dr Larry Kennedy development manager with Teagasc.

"Farm incomes have come under pressure in recent years as farming hasn't reached the income-earning potential of other industries. Expectations of the quality of life people should have are also growing, so farmers are seeking ways to supplement the household income," he adds.

Alternative farm enterprises and farm diversification are nothing new. For years, farmers have sold home-made jams and cheeses or offered bed-and-breakfast in the farmhouse. However, falling farm-income margins have pushed more farmers to get in on the act and created a need for more formal development of the alternative farm enterprise system.

"There's always been an entrepreneurial culture of farmyard enterprise and there will always be people out there looking for opportunities, but greater numbers of people need assistance in developing the right opportunities for them," Kennedy says.

Teagasc has long offered advice and assistance in setting up alternative businesses, but since last November, it has been working a new rural viability programme geared to help farm families to explore the opportunities for generating new income.

'The idea of the programme is to get farm families to take a look at their present situations and identify what options might be there for them to improve their quality of life. It's just getting going now but we're hoping that people will consider a wide range of options."

Teagasc offers farmers a large number of alternative enterprise ideas. They may choose to take on new animals such as deer or goats; build on their existing resources, with butter or ice-cream production; get into floristry, with tulip bulb, cut foliage or Christmas tree production; or take the rural tourism route.

"What we want is for people not to be blinkered in their approach. Farmers need to look at what's going on in their areas, make sure the product is right for them, that there's a market for it and that they can raise the right capital to match any grants there might be. We would also encourage them to look at their own skills and resources and come up with fresh ideas," says Kennedy.

One farmer who certainly embraced the challenge of developing a fresh idea is Jimmy Austin from Summerhill, Co Meath. Not only is Austin's alternative enterprise innovative, but it appeals to the ecologically minded and has many organic possibilities. Austin is a worm farmer, or to give him his proper title, a vermiculturalist.

"I got into worms about 12 years ago. I saw the effect they had on rotting farmyard manure and considered the option of the live bait market, but after further research I came across the idea of blending compost using worm casting," he says.

Austin spent a number of years developing worm beds and harvesting castings (worm manure) as a hobby on his beef and dairy farm. Five years ago he began to take a greater interest in vermiculture and for the last three years he has been in business with another local farmer, Michael Newman, as Irish Earthworm Technology Ltd.

Worms can be fed pretty much any type of organic waste, including paper, kitchen waste and farm manure. On Austin's farm, approximately three million blue-nosed worms (a particularly good composting worm) work in 100 foot by 10 foot beds, surrounded by an electric fence for herding. For every 100 tons of waste, the worms produce 60 tons of castings, which can then be used to develop an organic compost.

"It has been discovered that the compost they produce has properties which mimic a plant growth hormone," Austin says. "They are remarkable creatures. They take on a waste product and turn it into something positive."

The Irish market has been slow to realise the potential of vermiculture, Austin says, however he hopes its value as a recycling tool will begin to gain recognition.

"It would be wrong to says it's a lucrative business, it seems that it's just not fancy enough. It's a limited interest for me at the moment but if milk prices keep falling, who knows?"