Forestry premium payments to farmers fell by a massive €7.3m or 18% between 2023 and 2025, Department of Agriculture figures show.

Premium payments to farmers topped €40.7m in 2023, but collapsed to €33.4m last year.

The sharp drop in payments is a function of the significant downturn in forestry planting by farmers over the last 10 years, industry sources said.

And in a worrying sign of future trends, farmers’ share of overall forestry premium payments fell from 82% to 76% in the three-year period from 2023 to 2025, as non-farmers netted a greater proportion of the available funds.

While 18% of forestry premium payments went to non-farmers in 2023, this figure grew to 24% in 2025. Forestry premium payments to non-farmers totalled €10.76m in 2025, with the figure for the three years from 2023 to 2025 inclusive reaching almost €29m.

Although farmers still receive the lion’s share of the premiums paid out each year under the forestry programme – they secured almost €111m of the €140m on offer between 2023 and 2025 – the increased proportion of the premiums being directed to non-farmers has prompted concern.

However, industry sources maintained that farmers share of forestry premiums will continue to contract due to the collapse in new plantings over the last decade.

“The premiums are running out on forests planted 20 years ago, and the area of new plantings by farmers is not matching the area planted two decades ago, so the premium payments to farmers have to fall,” a leading forestry adviser explained.

“And this trend will accelerate because most of the new planting in recent years was done, and is being done, by pension funds,” he added.

This prediction is borne out by Department figures, which show that non-farmers were responsible for 54% of the 2,527ha planted last year. Farmers planted 1,172ha, while non-farmers planted 1,355ha.