Minister of State Pippa Hackett has set a target of 5,200 licences for this year compared with 4,035 last year.

She didn’t set a target for afforestation licences but a spokesperson for the Social, Economic and Environmental Forestry Association (SEEFA) told the Irish Farmers Journal that the Department has “projected 1,040 afforestation licences” in a submission to Project Woodland.

This would amount to 8,000ha of licences issued, which would convert to an actual planting programme of close to 4,000ha if half the licensed land is planted.

This would require an annual target of 1,000 licences or a monthly average of 90 licences compared with 47 last year. The Department issued 58 afforestation licences in January.

An area of real concern is not only the fall in licences issued but the dramatic fall in licence applications.

It is believed that possibly as few as 500 afforestation licence applications will be made this year, so Department ecologists and foresters can only achieve the 1,000 licence approvals by resurrecting the estimated 900 that are already in the system.

Even if they manage this, it masks a long-term problem, that farmers are walking away from the forestry option in their thousands.

For example, 10 years ago, 2,150 applications or Form 1s were received by the Department for 18,008ha of afforestation. From this, 1,481 licences were issued for 12,221ha resulting in 6,652ha actually planted. Approximately 1,400 dropped out between application and actual planting.

This conversion was always accepted as planting land is a major land use decision and farmers in particular need time in making this decision, while foresters stayed in touch with farmers who often activated their licences later.

Minister Hackett is right to be concerned but shouldn’t be surprised about the conversion rate from licence approvals to actual planting but she should surely understand why this situation has evolved.

In recent years, the conversion rate of planting after licence approval has deteriorated. This is due in part to the long delay between afforestation application and licence approval which can be over two years.

Given the time delay, it is not unreasonable for landowners to avail of another land use or State aid scheme, or to lease their holdings.

In many cases, the change of heart is because they have simply lost patience in a dysfunctional licensing system. Sadly, in a few instances, weary of the stress involved in getting a licence, including the exposure to opposition, they have simply sold their farms to institutional investors who can afford to wait for as long as it takes to get a licence.

Decline

Minister Hackett is also right to be “concerned about the decline in the number of applications for planting licences in recent years”. She should know by now the decline of farmer interest in afforestation is the main reason for the dramatic decline in planting.

A farmer who can convert land from barley to beef within weeks is not going to wait around for years to change land use to forestry, with no option of changing back if things don’t work out. This wasn’t always the case.

Even in 2012, when afforestation was already in decline, 883 farmers planted 6,237ha, while the remaining 6% (415ha) was planted by 94 investors and non-farmers.

By 2020, the tables had turned as 261 non-farmer investors planted 1,855ha, while the remaining 24% (579ha) was planted by 100 farmers. In just eight years, the annual number of farmers who planted had reduced by 89%. Conversely, the number of non-farmer investors has increased by 178% since 2012.

Why pick 2012? It was the year the 20% rule was introduced, whereby planting quality unenclosed land was virtually banned. It was also the year that ash dieback was introduced to Ireland. The blanket ban of even small-scale diverse forestry in hen-harrier designated land was also enforced from 2012.

All these factors combined have cumulatively eroded the afforestation programme. Ash dieback, for example, demonstrated the risks involved in planting native tree species.

Now, farmers with diseased crops, realise too late that they have been abandoned by the very State that encouraged the planting of ash and other indigenous species.

To her credit, Minister Hackett has promised to “significantly increase the output” of the ash Reconstitution and Underplanting Scheme (RUS) along with other schemes. If that means introducing a compensatory premium scheme for owners of ash woodlands there is a chance even at this late stage of restoring some confidence in the forestry programme among farmers who mainly planted ash.

Otherwise, non-farmer investors, who gave ash and other native species a wide berth, will continue to increase their share of the little that’s left of Ireland’s afforestation programme.

Green Belt, the Virginia, Co Cavan-based forestry company, recently organised a forest visit for a group of transition year students from the Vincentian School, Castleknock College, Dublin. This is part of the company’s new educational series “Tree Planting Days”.

“As Ireland pushes to plant more woodlands and forests, there is much scope to improve the education around tree planting and the positive impact forests and trees have on all our lives,” said Maurice Ryan, Green Belt, business development director who organised the event.

Donal Keenan, the forest owner, was delighted to welcome the students to his new planting site in Threewells, Co Wicklow.

The students began the day by hiking through his native tree plantation followed by a walk up the hill at Threewells to an afforestation site where Pearse Gath, Green Belt regional forester, coached the students on how to plant trees.

Teams were set and the students competed against each other for the tree planting championship combining quality with quantity. They were later introduced to forest harvesting and planning operations for successful forest management.

At the end of the day, the participants received the Green Belt certificate of accomplishment for their tree planting work.

The company is hosting a series of these “Tree Planting Days” and invites schools to check out the Green Belt site or email Maurice Ryan maurice@greenbelt.ie or call 087-675 3097. This is a welcome educational initiative, especially for transition year students who wish to know more about our forests and woodlands or who might wish to study forestry at third level.