My address to the committee on Forestry and World Forest which ran from July 22 to July 26. FAO headquarters, Rome.
"Deputy Director-General Semado,
Minister Totschnig,
Distinguished Delegates & Guests,
Firstly, may I thank the organisers of COFO27 for the kind invitation to talk to you today about Ireland’s experience with Agro-Forestry during the 27th Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry.
It is a particularly important conversation to have as we celebrate this - the 9th World Forest Week.
It is worth recalling the words of the Director General of the United Nations FAO Mr. General Qu Dongyu just six months ago at a joint event held by the Committee’s on Forestry and Agriculture that:
Agroforestry is a key climate solution with huge potential to simultaneously improve food security and nutrition and alleviate poverty, while halting deforestation, conserving biodiversity, building resilience, and helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
And we also know from the FAO’S State of the World’s Forests reports (the latest of which is being published this week) that Agro-Forestry has the potential to help restore over one billion hectares of degraded agricultural land worldwide.
Ireland may be a small country, and presently we have under 12% forest cover but we are determined to see that cover grow and we are determined to ensure that Agro-Forestry is integral to that growth.
And that is why I am so pleased to be able to share our plans to scale up Agro-Forestry in Ireland with you today.
We know benefits of Agroforestry are many and varied.
I see Agroforestry playing a key role in improving the farming enterprise and in integrating trees more closely to traditional farming systems.
That is why I am so pleased to see the FAO continue to position this topic at the heart of their Committee on Forestry in 2024.
Agroforestry, as we have already heard today, has the potential to play a hugely significant role in addressing many challenges we face in agriculture and in the wider environment, be it climate change, biodiversity, air quality or water quality.
In Ireland as part of our ambition to reduce emissions by 51% by 2030 and ultimately reach net zero by 2050, we wish to encourage a significant increase in tree planting, and particularly on farms, given that two thirds of our land is private farmland. Agroforestry is integral to this approach – and has the potential to be a gamechanger, both on individual farms and at a landscape level if we adopt it at scale.
Ireland has a budget of €1.3 billion behind the new Forestry Programme, and this record funding commitment is a strong message of support from national Government for all types of tree planting. It also gives certainty to farmers in the years ahead.
Farmers respond to certainty, and financial incentives have an important role to play in encouraging farmers to manage their land differently. Under the new Programme we are paying farmers an attractive, tax-free annual premium for ten years to get into agroforestry, as well as covering the cost of planting the trees.
Let’s remember that the ground can continue to be farmed – so we have incentivised this to make it a compelling offering.
But these financial incentives are only one piece of the jigsaw. As powerful again, and in many cases more influential, is the positive experience of the early adapter.
We are supporting farmers to establish silvopastoral systems which combine forestry and pasture, including grazing and the growing of fodder, as well as pilot schemes for both silvoarable and forest gardening systems.
In Ireland, agroforestry is now eligible for payments under our Organic Farming Scheme too, making the combination of agroforestry with organic farming a very attractive proposition economically.
The changes we have introduced in Ireland recognise the need to increase participation in agroforestry, and we have increased the duration of annual supports and levels of grant aid significantly.
I am confident that these changes will convert interest in the scheme to actual trees in the ground.
Simply put, we need more agroforestry across our landscape, and we now have the supports in place to make this happen.
The Irish experience tells us that we can’t outline often enough the benefits of agro-forestry, and I think by thinking globally but acting locally in our respective countries we can all continue to communicate this message to farmers and the wider public to generate better awareness of the benefits of agroforestry.
How trees have the capacity to moderate temperature extremes in animals, keeping them warmer in cold weather and keeping them cool in hot weather. The animals are less stressed and become more productive. In the case of sheep, for example, lambing mortality can be greatly reduced.
Trees have the potential to retain water in times of drought, and grass is generally greener under trees during these periods.
And in times of flood, tree roots help water to percolate through the soil horizons which results in cleaner water emerging into aquafers and water courses. In some cases, because of the improved drainage, animals can have an extended grazing season of up to 17 extra weeks per year!
This means they spend less time inside, so livestock farming becomes significantly less costly, and there is lower disease incidence. These are game changing results for farms.
It’s important to talk as much as we can about the capacity of trees to sequester carbon, and how in addition to increasing carbon storage in timber, the organic matter content of the soil is increased along with fungal associations leading to soil rejuvenation and improved fertility.
Soil fertility is pivotal to a farm really becoming resilient, and again when talking about the co-benefits of agroforestry, it’s important to highlight how if multispecies swards are used in conjunction with agroforestry, this will result in reduced inputs and less reliance on fertilisers.
The herbs and legumes have deeper roots than rye grass and will assist with drainage. In addition, the nutrients available to animals is improved greatly, leading to healthier, happier animals.
Agroforestry also brings higher levels of biodiversity to farms. The number of birds, bats, insects and spiders are greatly increased, meaning yet more reasons to promote it as much as we can.
I conclusion I would like to thank you again for the invitation to share Ireland’s experience with you today, and I look forward to seeing agroforestry grow both in Ireland and around the world over the coming years."
