Teagasc to appoint forestry economist

TEAGASC, the agricultural development, advisory and research authority, is planning to appoint an economist to examine the returns from forestry.

Professor Gerry Boyle, director of Teagasc, speaking at the conclusion of a countrywide series of meetings attended by hundreds of farmers and rural dwellers, said the person appointed will be in place in the New Year.

“There is a double dividend from forestry plantations,” he said. “There is the private gain for the individual who plants, but there is also a public dividend from the amenity value of forestry and from the carbon it sequesters from the atmosphere. This combination of public and private gain makes forestry unique.”