New forest owners co-op launched in Macroom
The Forest Owners Cooperative Society was formally launched by Minister of State, Mr. Tom Hayes on Friday, May 9th at the Castle Hotel, Macroom.
The Chairman Tim McCarthy welcomed the large audience and introduced the guest speakers. He explained how the co-op had come into being, as a result of two west cork based forest owner groups which had been established with the help of Teagasc over seven years ago. He outlined the objectives and how the co-op operates.
He urged forest owners to join and become active members.
John Casey, Forest Development Officer, Cork County, stressed the importance of forest owner groups. He outlined the Teagasc initiative for the formation of such groups. There are now 25 forest owner groups in existence with nearly 2000 members. The Forest Owner Co-op is a progression and Teagasc would be supporting its development.
Eugene Curran, Forest Service Inspector for West Cork and South Kerry welcomed the proactive approach of the members to support each other in a structured way, improve awareness and encourage the development of private forestry.
Sean Myers of Irish Cooperative Organisational Society welcomed the coop and stressed the importance of member commitment as the key to success.
Niall Grainger of GP Wood provided the industry perspective and welcomed the co-op as an effective interface between the many private growers and the needs of the log processing industry.
Mr. Tom Hayes, Minister of State.Derartment of Agriculture praised the role and potential of the co-op and spoke of the decisions that farmers have to take before putting land into forestry. Rather than traditional ventures such as beef,milk etc.
He went on to say that both tourism and forestry have tremendous potential for rural areas. Forestry and its attendant industries earning 2.2 billion in export value and providing 12000 jobs in forestry and forestry products.
He thanked Sean Myers and the I.C.O.S. for putting the co-op on the right footing and affirmed that forest owner co-op's are the way forward.
hHe Forest Owners Cooperative Society can be contacted at 086/2456941, forestownerscoop@gmail.com.