Farmers who plant trees up to the 30th June 2014 can do so under existing scheme rules which means they are eligible for 20 annual premium payments and 100% support for establishment costs.
In relation to planting after the 30th June 2014 this will come under the new forestry programme for 2014 – 2020. This will be funded under new State aid rules, the first draft of which was circulated to Member States in November 2013. These rules are similar to those set out in the Rural Development Regulation (RDR) which was published shortly afterwards in December 2013.
The development of the new programme, will be carried out in parallel with a Strategic Environmental Assessment which will feed into the development of the programme at scheme level. A tender for this work has issued and work is expected to being in early March 2014. It is therefore too early to make a statement on the detail of the new schemes in terms of grants available and the structure of premium payments, other than to say that all options are being considered. A public consultation process will take place in June/July 2014 at which point more detail will be made available on the content of the proposed new forestry programme.
