This article is from page 47 of the 2007-10-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 47 JPG
KILMIHIL farmer and Clare IFA Farm Forestry Chairman, Martin Murphy, was last week awarded a Merit Award at the 20th annual RDS/Forest Service Irish Forestry Awards at Castletown House in Cel- bridge.
Murphy was presented with the award by Mary Wallace, Minister of State at the Department of Ag- riculture, Fisheries and Food, with responsibility for Forestry, at a cer- emony on Thursday evening.
The annual Irish Forestry Awards, which are sponsored by the Forest Service of the Department of Ag- riculture, Fisheries and Food, are organised by the RDS which has a long association with Irish forestry and agriculture.
Martin took the merit award in the Farm Forestry category with John McCartan from Kells taking first place.
The Bio-diverse Forest/Woodlands category was won by The Mission- ary Society of St Columbian in Meath with the merit award going to Joe Barry from Kildare.
Greenbelt Ltd from County Cavan was awarded the judges prize for their outstanding work while the special award, in recognition of an outstanding contribution to Irish Forestry, was made to John McCa- rthy of None So Hardy nurseries.
Meanwhile, 1n his role as Clare IFA Farm Forestry Chairman, Martin last week called on Clare REPS farmers to examine the benefits of the new Forest Environmental Protection Scheme (FEPS) which is available to farmers establishing new forests on REPS farms.
The scheme, in which forests will oLoMMeNI Elo) NL elec MmmyalNe Mm oOh ab KO)IDOsTo ILE-DI objectives which will go beyond those of the regular afforestation scheme, will pay farmers up to €200 per hectare over and above the ordi- nary forestry premium for a five year ererulOXee
The payment will compensate farm- ers for the REPS payments that they would normally forgo when transfer- ring REPS land into forestry.
“T hope that this scheme will en- courage REPS farmers to consider
planting some land – the FEPS pay- ment along with the 15 per cent in- crease in premium which IFA fre- cently secured through partnership, should make forestry more attractive to farmers who wouldn’t have con- sidered it as an option in the past,” he said.
The chairman warned farmers to carefully compare the merits of both FEPS and the regular afforestation scheme, “the afforestation scheme
may be more appropriate and ben- eficial over the longer term on many je vuseee
Against this background the IFA hosted a farm forestry meeting in the Auburn Lodge Hotel last night.
“Farmers who are considering planting should come to receive in- formation on increases in planting grants and premiums and the new FEPS Scheme,” he said.
‘Farmers who have already planted
should also come to get details on other forestry schemes and an update on the Clare Wood Energy Project, which will create a market for thin- nings in the county.”