A Fermanagh farmer believes he has identified potential solutions to the challenge of getting agroforestry established on NI farms.
As highlighted on p11 of the 27 August edition, advisers at CAFRE have trialled a number of different guards around trees at a 0.78ha site within Greenmount campus planted in March 2020. However, they have struggled to find a cost-effective solution that will protect the trees from grazing animals and wildlife.
Fred Farrelly, a part-time sheep farmer from Irvinestown planted 0.44ha with 150 trees five years ago under the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS).
He has experienced the same challenges highlighted at Greenmount, and believes the current EFS rules are wrong, and help make agroforesty an unviable proposition on commercial farms. He intends digging up his trees and replacing them when his EFS agreement ends.
One of the main issues relates to the stakes, anchor pegs and tree guards that must be used under EFS, with sheep rubbing on the posts and pegs causing damage to the bark. In addition, the guards, which are 1.5m high, are still not high enough, as the sheep can get their feet on to the stake and eat the branches.
The bark on the tree has been damaged due to rubbing on the post. Fred thinks it will eventually break at this point
Fred reckons virtually every tree in his agroforestry plot has been damaged or required some form of maintenance or replacement.
“You couldn’t wean sheep on it – it would put too much pressure on the trees. The idea that some of the trees will be future sawlog quality just isn’t happening,” he says.
He also questions the DAERA requirement that trees should be at 5m spacings, which is meant to work out at 400 trees per hectare. However, that calculation does not allow for the fact that you start 5m out from a hedge or sheugh.
“Four hundred trees/ha is just not physically possible – 350 trees/ha is all you get,” he points out.
Access
To improve tractor access to his plot, Fred kept 6m out from the fence at the top of the field, and planted the next tree at a 4m space. DAERA’s own guidance states that trees should be planted “at approximately 5m spacing”.
However, according to Fred, when it comes to inspections, the word “approximately” seems to have been dropped, and the fact his first trees are planted at 6m was raised as a non-compliance.
Fred Farrelly in his new agroforestry plot, where trees are protected by electric wire and in rows 11.5m apart
“I went 6m at the top, and then 4m to be able to get up and down in the tractor. The only thing I can do is sow the field. It can’t be topped or any other field work done. The 5m space is too tight,” he says.
Solutions
Fred has come up with his own solutions to the various issues, having planted a second plot of agroforestry (70 trees) outside of EFS. Rather than pegs, posts and 1.5m plastic guards, he has utilised standard electric fence wire to protect the trees. He has also worked out that keeping the bottom two strands to one side of the saplings allows his sheep to graze all the grass in the paddock.
Initially no plastic guards were used, but to prevent damage by Irish Hares a 2ft guard was added.
“There is less plastic, less fencing posts, less cost, less work and no damage to the trees,” says Fred.
To facilitate field operations, the rows are 11.5m apart, although the trees within each row are spaced at 2m.
Putting the two bottom wires to one side allows the sheep to graze all the grass in Fred's second agroforestry plot
“When you count it up, it is not that different from the amount of trees in the EFS,” he maintains.
The trees were provided by Trees on the Land, a cross-border initiative that aims to plant native trees in all 32 counties of Ireland.
“They have been brilliant – they are farmer friendly, and there are no inspections,” says Fred.
Costs not covered in agroforestry
With a £4/tree EFS grant to establish agroforestry and a £65/ha annual maintenance payment, it is clear there is little financial incentive to plant agroforestry at present.
While recognising a much greater incentive is required, Fred also believes there is a “great opportunity” to market beef and lamb coming off an agroforestry setting.
He also points out that farmers will have to plant more trees in the future if greenhouse gas targets are to be met. “Why not plant a paddock boundary line as a starting point? There is no grass wasted, and there is also the value of the shelter, and the improved public perception,” he says.
“I have been persecuted out of EFS”
Fred Farrelly admits that he is an “environmental farmer at heart”. He was among the first groups of farmers to join the EFS, and one of the few who applied for four options, which also included hedge laying, tree-enhanced boundaries and wild bird cover.
However, the resultant inspections associated with EFS have left a bitter taste.
He talks about getting inspections in November, before his year-end; inspectors recording some trees as dead when they weren’t; and a lack of consistency between the advice given at training events and the rules applied at inspection.
He has a 174m tree-enhanced boundary, with 18 native hedgerow trees planted (four more than required). Over the last five years, Fred maintains that 11 inspectors have walked the hedge, with some driving from as far away as east Co Down.
“I have been persecuted out of EFS by inspections,” he maintains.
Flexibility
He also believes there is a need for much more flexibility in future environmental schemes.
“If you look at a hedge on a farm, some of it will be suited to coppicing, some parts will need to be re-laid, and some inter-planting should be done. The EFS doesn’t allow for that mix of actions,” he adds.
Read more
Greenmount site illustrates agroforestry challenges
Less than three agroforestry plots planted per year since 2015
A Fermanagh farmer believes he has identified potential solutions to the challenge of getting agroforestry established on NI farms.
As highlighted on p11 of the 27 August edition, advisers at CAFRE have trialled a number of different guards around trees at a 0.78ha site within Greenmount campus planted in March 2020. However, they have struggled to find a cost-effective solution that will protect the trees from grazing animals and wildlife.
Fred Farrelly, a part-time sheep farmer from Irvinestown planted 0.44ha with 150 trees five years ago under the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS).
He has experienced the same challenges highlighted at Greenmount, and believes the current EFS rules are wrong, and help make agroforesty an unviable proposition on commercial farms. He intends digging up his trees and replacing them when his EFS agreement ends.
One of the main issues relates to the stakes, anchor pegs and tree guards that must be used under EFS, with sheep rubbing on the posts and pegs causing damage to the bark. In addition, the guards, which are 1.5m high, are still not high enough, as the sheep can get their feet on to the stake and eat the branches.
The bark on the tree has been damaged due to rubbing on the post. Fred thinks it will eventually break at this point
Fred reckons virtually every tree in his agroforestry plot has been damaged or required some form of maintenance or replacement.
“You couldn’t wean sheep on it – it would put too much pressure on the trees. The idea that some of the trees will be future sawlog quality just isn’t happening,” he says.
He also questions the DAERA requirement that trees should be at 5m spacings, which is meant to work out at 400 trees per hectare. However, that calculation does not allow for the fact that you start 5m out from a hedge or sheugh.
“Four hundred trees/ha is just not physically possible – 350 trees/ha is all you get,” he points out.
Access
To improve tractor access to his plot, Fred kept 6m out from the fence at the top of the field, and planted the next tree at a 4m space. DAERA’s own guidance states that trees should be planted “at approximately 5m spacing”.
However, according to Fred, when it comes to inspections, the word “approximately” seems to have been dropped, and the fact his first trees are planted at 6m was raised as a non-compliance.
Fred Farrelly in his new agroforestry plot, where trees are protected by electric wire and in rows 11.5m apart
“I went 6m at the top, and then 4m to be able to get up and down in the tractor. The only thing I can do is sow the field. It can’t be topped or any other field work done. The 5m space is too tight,” he says.
Solutions
Fred has come up with his own solutions to the various issues, having planted a second plot of agroforestry (70 trees) outside of EFS. Rather than pegs, posts and 1.5m plastic guards, he has utilised standard electric fence wire to protect the trees. He has also worked out that keeping the bottom two strands to one side of the saplings allows his sheep to graze all the grass in the paddock.
Initially no plastic guards were used, but to prevent damage by Irish Hares a 2ft guard was added.
“There is less plastic, less fencing posts, less cost, less work and no damage to the trees,” says Fred.
To facilitate field operations, the rows are 11.5m apart, although the trees within each row are spaced at 2m.
Putting the two bottom wires to one side allows the sheep to graze all the grass in Fred's second agroforestry plot
“When you count it up, it is not that different from the amount of trees in the EFS,” he maintains.
The trees were provided by Trees on the Land, a cross-border initiative that aims to plant native trees in all 32 counties of Ireland.
“They have been brilliant – they are farmer friendly, and there are no inspections,” says Fred.
Costs not covered in agroforestry
With a £4/tree EFS grant to establish agroforestry and a £65/ha annual maintenance payment, it is clear there is little financial incentive to plant agroforestry at present.
While recognising a much greater incentive is required, Fred also believes there is a “great opportunity” to market beef and lamb coming off an agroforestry setting.
He also points out that farmers will have to plant more trees in the future if greenhouse gas targets are to be met. “Why not plant a paddock boundary line as a starting point? There is no grass wasted, and there is also the value of the shelter, and the improved public perception,” he says.
“I have been persecuted out of EFS”
Fred Farrelly admits that he is an “environmental farmer at heart”. He was among the first groups of farmers to join the EFS, and one of the few who applied for four options, which also included hedge laying, tree-enhanced boundaries and wild bird cover.
However, the resultant inspections associated with EFS have left a bitter taste.
He talks about getting inspections in November, before his year-end; inspectors recording some trees as dead when they weren’t; and a lack of consistency between the advice given at training events and the rules applied at inspection.
He has a 174m tree-enhanced boundary, with 18 native hedgerow trees planted (four more than required). Over the last five years, Fred maintains that 11 inspectors have walked the hedge, with some driving from as far away as east Co Down.
“I have been persecuted out of EFS by inspections,” he maintains.
Flexibility
He also believes there is a need for much more flexibility in future environmental schemes.
“If you look at a hedge on a farm, some of it will be suited to coppicing, some parts will need to be re-laid, and some inter-planting should be done. The EFS doesn’t allow for that mix of actions,” he adds.
Read more
Greenmount site illustrates agroforestry challenges
Less than three agroforestry plots planted per year since 2015
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