Interview with Dr Nuala Ní Fhlatharta

In this issue we talk to Dr Nuala Ní Fhlatharta about the challenges in the promotion, establishment and management of farm forests. Nuala, is likely to be well known to most IT&F readers through her current high profile position as Head of Teagasc Forestry Development Unit based in Athenry, Co. Galway. “I started off my forestry studies in Galway and graduated from U.C.D. in 1988.  This was a difficult time to graduate from college, with very few employment opportunities in forestry in Ireland. Private forestry was in its infancy, and the options open were basically to continue on with your studies or to go to the U.K. It was a twist of fate at that time, but I went to do a Ph..D. with Mike Bulfin in Teagasc, Kinsealy focusing on the productivity of poplar and willow clones for biomass production. Nowadays, that would be very topical although back in 1988 there wasn’t much talk about bio-energy and growing crops for energy production.  I subsequently left Teagasc and worked in the private nursery and establishment sectors. In the mid '90s Teagasc recruited the first forestry advisers. I was one of three advisers and was based in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon and provided advice and training on forestry in the western and northwestern counties. Today Teagasc has nine forestry advisors.

"The Teagasc Forestry Development Unit is an amalgamated forestry advisory, research and training unit. The idea is that by having research, advice and training together in the one unit, that our research is more focused on the needs of the sector and that our advisory and training services then have the benifits of very good contact with the ongoing research and we can apply research findings in the field immediately.”

Promoting forestry to farmers
"Farmers tend to consider forestry at critical points in the cycle of the farm: for example, when ownership moves from one generation to the next or when the farmer is getting older and no longer able to continue in a particular enterprise to the same intensity or when the decision has been taken to secure a part-time job or when the son/daughter has said; ‘I’m not coming home farming’ or when the son/daughter decides he/she is going to come home to farm but wants to restructure the farm. As I said, it usually happens at key points in the farm’s development.

"In recent years we have also noticed that with the onset of the Single Farm Payment, farmers are now more aware of how profitable various enterprises are and some realize that they have been farming at a loss. When they begin to look around for alternatives, forestry is an obvious option. We in Teagasc provide an objective and independent advisory service for these people. Often the farmers’ first point of contact might be their agricultural adviser or their REPS planner and they are then referred on to our service for more specialized forestry advice.

“The decision to plant is a complex one. Obviously the income in the form of forestry premium payments is crucial. The more flexible lifestyle that a farm forest enterprise offers a farmer is a major factor. We recently have seen an increase in the number of people who are planting for environmental reasons. Although long-term in nature the value of the crop for energy and timber is also a contributing factor. For those who decide not to go ahead and plant, however, we have found that it's the long term nature of forestry and the permanence of the  commitment that leads to a reluctance to make a decision that ties a family down for generations to come. In addition the loss of the speculative value of the land is an issue.

"Having said that, people are planting, not as much as we would hope, but there were over 8,000 ha planted last year. People are planting for very good reasons and most of the people we meet are very happy they planted and they also want to move forward and make the best of what they have."

Long Term Obligations
Nuala pointed out that under the proposed new Forestry Act, she understands that some of the obstacles to converting planted land to other sustainable uses will be removed. “For example, if a farmer had an innovative idea of [e.g]. putting a cluster of eco-houses in the forest and applied to remove some of the existing forest, this might be favourably considered by the Forest Service. However, I do not foresee that large areas of forest would be removed as this would have serious implications for our future timber supply as well as serious implications for our Kyoto commitments, for example.”

Ideal Planting Scenario
"Forestry is an extremely attractive option for farmers whose farms fit into the optimal FEPS category. These are principally the farmers who have less than 40ha who would plant 8ha or more. In fact I understand that many of these farmers are opting to plant an average of 14 hectares.  Adding the forestry premium of between €450 and €550 and the €200 FEPS premium and the SFP which will be unaffected if the farmer qualifies for stacking, makes forestry an extremely attractive option for many farmers. They are guaranteed, the FEPS for five years, and the premium for 20 years. We recently compared drystock and forestry income figures and found forestry is way ahead and you are also growing a crop for the future; that value should also be considered. There are a lot of people out there who are farming at a loss who could get a significantly greater income from forestry.

“If people are holding off waiting for better grants into the future that just doesn’t make sense. A lot of effort and lobbying went into the current schemes and if people are thinking of planting, I would say now is the ideal time to go ahead and plant because we don’t know what the scenario for new planting is going to be post 2013. The current schemes are attractive and we have a very stable environment for the next number of years."

Broadleaves
"Teagasc has been carrying out research on the genetic improvement and on the management of broadleaves. We have several research projects ongoing in conjunction with Coford and we have carried out significant research on the management of broadleaves. Again and again we have found that you get good broadleaves on good land; it’s a simple formula and combined with good management practices we are developing a valuable asset for the future. In relation to whether we should be planting conifers or broadleaves, it depends on what we want from our forests; if we want timber production, we have to grow conifers, particularly on sites that are unsuitable for broadleaves. If we are looking at the environmental aspects, broadleaves have a lot to offer. Definitely we should have more broadleaves, but not at the expense of valuable and profitable conifer or mixed broadleaf/conifer plantations.”

Certification
“On a day to day basis, for a lot of forest owners, especially those with younger crops, it’s not an issue at the moment. However it is a real issue for sawmillers and timber processors. At the end of the day farmers have to be market oriented and therefore it is going to become an issue for a lot of people as their plantations approach first thinning and they try to market their produce. However it should not be a major stumbling block for farmers as the most of the requirements in relation to certification are based on sustainable forest management. The infrastructure for private forests to be certified is currently being developed."

Farmer Management
“The fact that most of the planting has been done by management companies does in a way remove the farmer from immediate contact with the plantation on a day to day basis in the early years. We in Teagasc put a lot of effort into encouraging farmers to become familiar with what’s involved in successfully establishing and managing a farm forest.  We always make the point at our introduction to forestry courses and when we are talking to perspective farm foresters that; ‘if you hand over the management to a forestry company for the first couple of years, you have to stay involved, because after four or five years, unless you maintain the contract, the companies are no longer involved and at that stage you’re left with an asset that you have to manage'. We put a lot of effort into encouraging involvement from the very beginning, even if the company is there we would advise farmers to talk to the company forester and be aware of potential problems in their own plantations. We would always hope for more farmer involvement. We are now at the stage that a lot of farmers have plantations at the thinning stage. We are finding that some of these farmers haven’t seen their forests in a while and really don’t know what to do. Our advisers are busy showing these farmers how to open up access into their crops and prepare their forests for thinning. We are putting a lot of effort in getting farmers back into their forests. Over the past couple of years we’ve being running SkillsNet courses with the IFA; bringing groups of farmers together, teaching them how to do basic measurements on their plantation. We find farmers really enjoy getting to know their forests. They are able to go into their own forests, measure their own trees and talk about the volume of timber to be removed in thinning. I know it’s a cliché to talk about forestry culture, but until we get to the stage where the two farmers are sitting in the local pub talking: ‘I got 50m3 a hectare from my first thinning’; when we get to that stage, when they are chatting about forestry in the same way they do now about cattle weight and prices, then we will have achieved something in the development of a forestry culture in Ireland. We need to have an infrastructure in place to support the farmers. There needs to be a readily accessible route to market where farmers have access to forestry contractors and timber processing mills. Local and profitable markets need to be established."

Wood Energy
“The potential for wood energy is primarily in private forests. Wood energy, by its nature, should be a local market. It doesn’t make sense for a farmer in Mayo to be transporting pulpwood to a factory in the south of the country. This does not make sense from an energy output/input point of view. From a sustainability viewpoint one would say it is a good thing for raw material to be used locally, both from the economical and environmental perspectives as well as from the perspective of displacing imported oil. This emerging market will also help to create positive attitudes to forestry in local communities. Wood energy has huge potential in Ireland.

“We are involved in several related projects. We have a researcher Niall Farrerlly, who is looking at various thinning systems. We also have a new researcher starting within the next few weeks who will be looking at ways of grouping farmers together using the latest technology for harvesting and marketing purposes. We are also involved in local development projects in Donegal and Clare. There are also related initiatives beginning to develop in Galway, Kerry and Cork and proposals in a number of other counties.”

Future
“I think private forestry will continually expand into the future. In addition we need to focus on the existing resource and maximize that resource. Private forestry is now at a very interesting stage: up to now private forestry was very much focused on planting and establishment, but many of these forests are now at the stage that they can be used for a variety of other purposes e.g. timber, energy, tourism and recreation. The issues we now need to address include the utilisation of forests and timber: we need to look at harvesting options, markets, multi-use forestry including amenity, recreation and non wood uses of forest products. I think it is now a lot more challenging to be a forester. When most of the Irish foresters were trained the focus was very much on production forestry. We all knew how to grow a tree and grow a tree well; but now forestry is much broader than that. It is a challenge, but will make all of our jobs more interesting.”