Just 5ha of forestry was planted last week, according to figures published in the Department of Agriculture’s forestry licensing dashboard.

This is just a fraction of the level of planting recorded in July 2023 and was described as a continuation of the forestry sector’s “poor performance” this year.

“Even though it is not planting season, this figure is still alarmingly low, as July averaged 71ha a week in 2023, and 51ha per week in 2022,” a spokesperson for the Social Economic and Environmental Forestry Association (SEEFA) said.

“Given that this spring and summer have been relatively wet and mild, an opportunity has been missed to boost planting for the year,” the SEEFA spokesperson stated.

“But, as licences dry up, so do opportunities. At a rate of 5ha a week, we would only achieve 3.25% of the annual planting target,” the SEEFA spokesperson pointed out.

“This cannot continue. We need more from the Department [of Agriculture],” he added.

June

Dashboard figures to the end of June showed that 716ha were planted during the first six months of the year.

This was more or less in line with 2023; but that was a disastrous year for forestry, with just 1,652ha planted over the entire 12 months.

This was well below the Government’s annual planting target of 8,000ha per year.