The IFA is encouraging forest owners to join an online meeting to learn more about a plan to improve the delivery of forestry licences.
The newly-launched Project Woodland plan will be launched this evening (Thursday) between 7.30pm to 9pm.
Farmers will be able to hear from Minister of State, Pippa Hackett and Jo O’Hara, the former CEO Scottish Forestry and author of the report.
IFA Farm Forestry Chairman Vincent Nally said it was a priority for forest owners who have been waiting, in some instances for years, to get a licence to manage their forests.
“With the numbers issued in February down 22 per cent on January, farmers are very worried they will not get a licence to manager their forest and will be unable to realise its commercial value,” he said.
Last month, a total of 272 forest licences were issued compared with 349 in January. Mr Nally said considering the additional resources that have already been allocated, it is still below what is required by the sector, particularly in light of the 4,500 accumulated in the system.
“For the plan to work for farmers with forestry, it’s essential that the costs and bureaucracy associated with planing and managing are significantly reduced. An immediate action must be the introduction of a piloted environmental planning grant to ensure equity across applicant type and to provide much-needed support to farmers that want to manage their forests,” he added.
Forestry Licence Plan – Irish Farmers’ Association (ifa.ie)