Typically trees are planted in October and November but in 2022 nothing has been planted yet as the industry waits for word on the increased forestry premiums that have been touted for months.

While final EU sign-off is important, surely some arrangement can be made to allow farmers and the forestry industry move on rather than enduring another year of miniscule planting relative to targets.

Donal Magner suggests afforestation for 2022 is unlikely to exceed 2,000ha, but there should be a bounce in 2023 planting if the forestry premiums can be nailed down. How big the bounce will be depends on funding levels, especially if it aims to encourage farmers who once planted over 8,000ha annually. There is no doubt the ash dieback debacle did irreparable damage.

Investors, small and large, will be attracted to a new scheme if premia increase by 40-60%, which would take native species annual premia over €1,000. How farmers will react will depend on length of premium periods, currently at 15 years.

Remember, there is a push to move away from spruce trees to more long-rotation tree crops like oak, which will be around for over 100 years.

Ellen Durkin discusses what’s important when planting a hedge, which many farm families will attempt over the coming weeks.

Softening in global milk price trends

The base milk price difference between September 2021 and 2022 is over 20c/l.

We have seen in recent weeks a softening of international markets and a six-week decline in New Zealand dairy commodity auction results. Remember it is peak milk supply season in New Zealand so some softening is expected at this time of the year. However, it would be foolish to ignore the softening milk price trends for Irish farmers looking to 2023 prices.

Better milk solids will keep prices up for what is left to produce on Irish dairy farms for 2022. While costs are high now that rain has made grazing very difficult, it will still pay to milk indoors for a number of weeks.

There is plenty of grass in parts of the country, but the window to take advantage of this is getting tighter unless the weather picks up soon.

Food Vision beef – key details need to be filled in

The need to join up the various farm sectors in the one room was never more apparent than in the outcomes of the interim report of the Food Vision beef group chaired by UCC’s Prof Thia Hennessy.

The direct and enabling actions listed are broadly similar to the final dairy report published last week. In this context, the important line from the report is that the “group expects that the beef sector will work with the dairy and tillage sectors in the development of an integrated strategy to promote and support climate change mitigation and sustainability best practice”.

The significant missing detail in the beef report is what compensation will be available to suckler farmers if they decide to take on a “voluntary extensification scheme”.

What farmers can or cannot do with land if they decide to reduce the number of breeding animals they have on a holding is also crucial. We can only presume the final report due by month end will have that detail.