OAK forestry owners can earn up to €60 per cubic metre and protect the health and long-term value of their mature trees by thinning their crop now and selling the product for firewood, according to Teagasc forestry advisor Michael Somers.

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.

BROADLEAF trees planted in the 1990s are now paying dividends to landowners, according to Teagasc forestry experts.

AGRICULTURE Minister Brendan Smith has reported progress on most of the €300m of cuts recommended for his department in the June, 2009 Bord Snip list of €5bn savings that could be made in the public service.

AGRI-FOOD scientists are to benefit from €10 million departmental research funding that will help deliver the milk production goals outlined in Food Harvest 2020.

GRANT aid totalling€3 million for selected research projects in the forestry sector was announced yesterday by Minister of State Sean Connick.

A NEW body, Forás Orgánach, has been set up to drive forward the development of the organic sector in Ireland.

A CLUSTER-BASED approach is the best way to identify private forest resources that are available in Ireland to supply the wood energy market, a conference was told in Kilkenny yesterday.

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, Teagasc has predicted.

EXPORTS of forest products last year were worth more than €333 million to the economy, an increase of over 14% in value on the previous year, according to figures released by COFORD, the national council for forest research and development.

STATE agencies attached to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food — rather than production capacity investment — will bear the brunt of a €9.1 million savings target as part of the Government’s spending measures to save €440m this year and €1 billion next year.

THE celebrated Fields of Athenry didn’t reveal any gushing oil wells yesterday, but farm forestry owners were told they could become heat suppliers of the future.

AN emerging new rural Ireland will be reflected in Farmfest and Bioenergy 08 which is expected to attract up to 20,000 people to Athenry, Co Galway, on Friday.

PLANTATION forests can make a positive contribution to biodiversity, according to research conducted at Trinity College.

A VIRUS carried by the grey squirrel, which is dramatically increasing its numbers, poses a serious threat to the survival of the country’s native red squirrel population.

A HUGE boost for the wood energy supply chain was announced at the Bioenergy 2007 open day in Carlow, which was jointly organised by Sustainable Energy Ireland, COFORD and Teagasc.

FORESTRY now contributes over €1.6 billion annually to the Irish economy, it was revealed yesterday.

THE heating system in the Department of Agriculture and Food’s regional office in Johnstown Castle Estate, Co Wexford, is to become wood fuelled from September.

IRELAND has the potential to secure an extra 5% of its energy needs from refined wood fuels, Sustainable Energy Ireland said at Wood Energy Week yesterday.

The promotion of wood energy as a viable alternative energy source for Irish industry, public bodies and consumers must be a key objective to meet Kyoto targets, a conference heard today.