IFA farm forestry chair Pat Collins has said that the Forest Service funded farmers to plant thousands of hectares of small-scale forests that now due to the scale and the diversity of tree species, farmers are finding it difficult to get contractors to manage. “This is becoming a major problem for many forest owners,” maintained Collins. “A lot of the companies and contractors that planted these forests are not interested in managing these types of plantations as they are not of a commercial scale.”

Farmers’ primary aim when planting is commercial. They afforest to optimise farm income and realise an income from the timber crop. If they cannot manage their forest, they run the risk of the forest underperforming and limit the potential markets available for the crop. This is true for all forests, but particularly broadleaf forests that need to be actively managed.

“Small-scale diverse forests are difficult to manage, as due to their size it can be uneconomical to use large machinery and the markets can be limited”, said Collins. “The forest owner groups have proven to be very effective internationally to provide scale by clustering smaller private plantations to increase the interest of potential buyers so forest owners achieve a better price.”

In Ireland, there is a lack of tradition and knowledge in forestry. Farmers are producing timber for the first time and the sharing of experiences between farmers, through forest owner groups, has been very successful at increasing awareness about good management and timber markets.

“A lot of forest owner groups are struggling due to the lack of supports. If they are to build their membership and achieve a viable scale with sufficient through put of timber they need funding to hire a manager in the initial years”, said Collins. “There is evidence to show that it takes three to five years for a group to achieve a scale to be financially sustainable. It is very frustrating that the Forestry Programme 2016 – 2020 does not provide supports for existing groups.”

If the private forest sector is to achieve the ambitious roundwood production targets, forest owner groups must be supported. The IFA, in its Budget 2017 submission, is looking for funding for existing forest owner groups to realise the economic potential of their forests and for small-scale harvesting and processing equipment to facilitate the mobilisation of non-commercial scale forests.

*Contact IFA forestry executive Geraldine O’Sullivan on 087-938-5283.