While at this time of the year, many of the mushrooms in your woodlands may have appeared overnight, your trees didn’t. They took years to grow to reach thinning or felling stage and, naturally, this timeframe facilitates planning. Human nature being what it is, however, planning is often sacrificed when life dictates that more immediate concerns must be addressed.

Failing to plan ahead in forestry and, in particular, failing to plan your forest harvest will cost you dearly. This is for a range of reasons, from the current taxation regime for forestry, to planning access and construction of forest roads to obtaining a felling licence and associated issues.

The timing of selling your timber is also critical. Timber prices fluctuate and forest owners, like other producers, have no control over markets. They can, however, have their forests prepared for the marketplace when prices are high. That means having ready access and felling licences in place, so that they can quickly react to markets when the price is right.

Also, if you have a forest over 4ha approaching felling stage, you may be well advised to fell areas over a number of years given current taxation considerations.

It can be worthwhile to seek information and independent advice on this. A good source of information is the annual Forestry & Timber Yearbook published by the Irish Timber Growers Association (ITGA).

I am aware of various forest owners who are now planning their felling harvest five years or more in advance, applying for a five-year general felling licence to fell their woodlands over this timeframe to minimise their tax liability and to ensure that they have a felling licence on hand when prices are good.

Timber demand in Ireland has remained reasonably strong, despite the significant windblow event experienced last February. The southwest has certainly experienced a reduction in timber prices, but this was not unexpected given that an estimated two million cubic metres of roundwood were windblown in Storm Darwin. This accounted for over 8,000ha of forest, mainly in the southwest.

Growers who had existing access and felling licences in place could sell and harvest immediately, avoiding the subsequent price falls. This planning and preparedness should be de rigueur for timber growers who have plantations approaching thinning and, in particular, felling stage.

Once you have put the above planning in place, the two biggest issues are having a clearly defined comprehensive sale agreement and timber security during a sale.

The standard method of sale for thinnings and fellings in the private sector is usually based on weight. When thinnings or fellings are sold on a weight basis, the forest owner will only get paid for that timber weighed over a weighbridge and reported back to him/her. In this regard, it is vital that all timber sales are agreed between parties by having a comprehensive contract and an adequate deposit in place before making the subsequent pre-agreed installment payments at various stages during the sale.

In order to assist timber growers in the thinning, felling and timber sale process, the ITGA has launched a Template Master Tree Sales Agreement. This is effectively a timber sales agreement for growers to adapt to their particular timber sale and forest. It will provide a template sale agreement structured under various headings for clarity and ease of use.

Terms and conditions

The terms and conditions are designed to cover a range of potential sale situations and forest types and cover issues including warranties, payment terms, right of access, felling, harvesting, indemnity and insurance, conditions, and health and safety.

The agreement has been drafted to anticipate trends in the industry, such as the sale of forest biomass.

In relation to the second big issue for growers – improving timber security – ITGA has developed a Model Timber Sales Dispatch System to improve security in timber sales from forests. The system is outlined on www.itga.ie.

It is always prudent to get professional advice from a forestry company or consultant forester before embarking on a timber sale (see www.forestry.ie).

Mushrooms might like to keep themselves in the dark, but there is no reason for timber growers to do likewise with the information on forestry that is available out there.