"The recent increases in the tax-free forestry premium and the forest planting grant as well as the innovative new Forest Environment Protection Scheme (FEPS) and the enhanced grants for the construction of forest roads offer a unique opportunity for thousands of farmers to covert part of their farms to forestry, " said George McCarthy, chairman of the IFIC.

IFIC has recently joined forces with the Department of Agriculture and Food in a nationwide campaign to boost forest planting. The campaign is focusing in particular on the opportunities for beef and sheep farmers to increase income by including a forest enterprise on their farms. The campaign is also highlighting the employment, energy, environmental and amenity benefits of an expanding forests and forest products sector.

According to McCarthy, while there has been a major upsurge in planting by farmers during the past 10-12 years, Ireland is still at the bottom of the European afforestation table. Just 10% of our land area is under trees compared to over 30% for the EU as a whole.

"The vast bulk of the 14,000 farmers who are currently involved in forestry have planted in the last 10-12 years, " he said "Our analysis of farm income figures shows that there is potential for up to an additional 40,000 farmers to plant and substantially increase their income.

There is no other alternative enterprise opportunity available to farmers at present where there is a grant to cover the entire establishment cost, a tax-free premium for 20 years that beats income from most conventional enterprises and taxfree concessions on the sale of timber."

Up until now, it did not pay the 50,000 farmers who were participating in the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) to go into forestry. But that barrier has been completely lifted with the introduction of the new Forest Environment Protection Scheme (FEPS).

"Farmers in REPS will now get a special payment of up to Euro200 per hectare for five years on land converted to forestry, " said McCarthy.

"When added to the standard forestry premium, it amounts to a total payment of up to Euro775 per hectare, tax-free, on land planted under the new FEPS. The bottom line is that a farmer with 40 hectares and currently participating in REPS could see an income increase of up to 50% by planting 25% of the farm with trees."

While there is scope for farmers in every county to plant part of their farms, McCarthy says there is particular potential in about 12 counties. These include Cork, Tipperary, Clare, Limerick and Kerry in the south, Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Longford in the midlands and Roscommon, east Galway, Leitrim and Cavan in the west and north-west.

Special campaigns were launched by IFIC and the Department of Agriculture in some of these counties last autumn. Further county launches are taking place over the coming weeks, starting with a major launch in Cork by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Miche�l Martin on Tuesday, March 13.