Farmers and forest owners are in some cases “watching the value of their timber crop decrease by over €10,000/ha if they cannot get a licence to thin”, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has claimed.
An IFA-led protest of farmers and forestry owners in Dublin today (Wednesday, July 14) seeks to “highlight the crisis in the forest sector and the need for emergency legislation to reform the licence system”, the organisation says.
Commenting ahead of the demonstration – which kicked off at 10:00a.m today – IFA president Tim Cullinan said: “Farmers are being denied the right to manage their forests.
“They planted their land with the legitimate expectation that they would be able to thin and realise an income during its rotation, but the delays mean that this is no longer a reality for many,” he said.
“There are nearly 6,000 forest licences – afforestation, road and felling licences – caught up in the backlog.
“This is jeopardising the entire industry, from nurseries to sawmilling, with hundreds of jobs already lost,” the IFA president stressed.
“The increased volume of imported timber is placing the health of the forest estate at unnecessary risk.”
Continuing, he said:
“Not to mention the economic burden on forest owners who cannot release the equity in their forests or who are watching the value of their timber crop decrease by over €10,000/ha if they cannot get a licence to thin.”
He said the current crisis is undermining confidence in forestry as a land use option, at a time when we need more farmers to plant if we are to meet our climate objectives.
Forests account for 11% or 770,020 ha of the total land area of Ireland, with 49% in private ownership, the IFA notes. The value of the industry to the national economy is €2.3 billion. It supports 12,000 rural jobs and provides important biodiversity and ecosystem services.