‘Farmers can benefit from wood energy sector by pooling resources’

FARMERS can be the heat suppliers of the future by pooling their resources, Teagasc forestry advisers told attendees at the Bioenergy 2011 conference in Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford.

To promote this business opportunity, Teagasc is supporting several timber producer groups which are already operating nationwide. At the conference in the Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters, delegates viewed the use of locally-supplied wood chip in the biomass boiler which heats Johnstown Castle.

Teagasc director Professor Gerry Boyle said: “We believe that the rapid expansion of the wood energy sector in Ireland will be beneficial to more than 15,000 farmers who developed a farm forest enterprise. Bioenergy 2011 showcases the potential of wood energy as an alternative and important outlet for thinnings.”