The increased grant and premium rates announced under the new Forestry Programme must be offered on trees planted between now and January, otherwise afforestation will halt, one farm organisation has said.
The programme, which is worth €1.3 billion was announced earlier today (November 3), and will offer increased grant payments and premium rates for afforestation from January 1, 2023.
However, chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) forestry chair Jason Fleming told Agriland that those who have forestry licenses should be able to begin planting now and draw down payment for it.
“These new premiums should be backdated so that foresters can go ahead and plant. We still have all of November and all of December and we can’t be waiting until January 1 to start.
“The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has not confirmed whether that will be possible or not,” he said.
“It’s common sense, a farmer is not going to plant trees from here to January if he or she is not guaranteed to get the new premiums for them,” he added.
The forestry chair also said that there may be problems in relation to the availability of saplings next year as they were planted three to four years ago.
“What I’m hearing from the nurseries is that the minister has very high targets for and we could have problems with plants because they just don’t have the quantity of seeds that they need to meet the targets that are in the programme,” he said.
“These targets only came out today but the nurseries have to plant three or four years in advance, so you can’t change the supply now.
“Aside from that, as far as the premiums and extended time periods go, this is all welcome. It’s definitely a step in the right direction, things are getting better but we still have more to do,” Fleming concluded.
Forestry Industries Ireland (FII) has also welcomed the announcement of the new Forestry Programme and labelled it “a massive vote of confidence” in the sector.
“The new forestry premiums are a huge step up from the old programme,” said FII director Mark McCauley.
“A farmer will now get over €220,000 for planting ten hectares of native woodland, up from €100,000 under the last Programme. For commercial forest, the new payments add up to nearly €150,000, up from €77,000,” he continued.
McCauley said that investment in forestry is one of the biggest ways to address agricultural emissions and that the new programme has the potential to bring Ireland’s afforestation levels back on track, following a period of shortfalls in relation to planting targets.
“This will also create thousands of jobs in rural Ireland as well as helping our climate and environment.
“This new programme is a huge financial inducement for farmers to look again at the forestry option. The financial rewards are very attractive when you combine the much increased government payments with the very valuable timber that a farmer can produce.
“It is the ideal way to diversify the farm enterprise, generate strong economic returns and take a very positive step for the environment,” he concluded.