A proposed joint venture between the IFA and a new online timber trading platform has sparked a serious clash within the farm organisation.

Leading members of the IFA forestry committee are understood to have threatened to resign when it emerged that senior management within the association were in negotiations with Tradeforus Forestry regarding the establishment of a joint venture.

The exact nature of the proposed joint venture arrangement are unclear, as the talks were subject to a non-disclosure agreement.

But the Irish Farmers Journal understands that the IFA’s forestry committee overwhelmingly rejected the joint venture plans at a meeting this week.

The IFA, Tradeforus and individual members of the IFA forestry committee declined to comment when contacted by the Irish Farmers Journal, all citing the non-disclosure agreement.

Tradeforus Forestry is an online forestry auction platform based in Naas, Co Kildare. The business is believed to have been in discussions with senior IFA management about the joint venture for some time.

It has been suggested that the online auction would bring greater openness to the sale of timber products and improved prices for private forestry growers.

However, a number of private forestry owners, who have serious concerns regarding the joint venture proposal, were extremely critical of the exclusion of the IFA forestry committee from the negotiations.

They said the approach was disrespectful to the committee’s elected members and that the beef, grain or dairy committees would not have been treated in a similar fashion.

It is unclear how the negotiations will now progress, given the IFA forestry committee’s opposition.

“If senior management ignore the committee, a bomb will go off within the organisation,” one source said.

The tonnage of timber to be harvested from private forests is set to increase significantly over the coming years, as annual plantings in the early 1990s generally ranged from 9,000ha to 12,000ha. These plantations have now matured and are ready to be harvested.