One in every five farmers who responded to the Irish Farmers Journal survey is considering planting trees under the State’s new €1.3bn forestry programme.
Some 15% of farmers report to be only considering the option moderately, while a further 5% say they are strongly assessing forestry on their farm.
This is down significantly on the 35% of farmers who stated that they would consider planting forestry under the new programme when a similar survey was conducted last December.
Applications
Last week, the European Commission gave Ireland the go-ahead on the afforestation element of the new programme, allowing the Department of Agriculture to open the forestry schemes to applications over the coming weeks.
The payment rates for new planting will rise by between 46% and 66% and the period over which yearly premiums are paid has increased to 20 years, up from the 15 years in the previous programme.
Some 8,000ha of afforestation is needed each year up to 2027 to meet the State’s forestry targets.
The Department’s latest forestry dashboard figures show that the number of new afforestation licences granted has collapsed in the year to date, much of which can be attributed to the delays in the programme’s approval.
SHARING OPTIONS