Moyvore farm family take award for forestry practices

A family farm in Moyvore was awarded second place in this year’s Teagasc Farm Forestry Award at a ceremony in the RDS on May 2.

Husband and wife James and Martina Ham, alongside their daughter Rebecca and her husband Pat, travelled to the RDS to accept the award on behalf of their family.

The award aimed to highlight the work of farmers who are incorporating forestry into normal farming practices, with a particular focus on nature enhancement and biodiversity.

The Ham family farm is 52 hectares, half of which is in forestry, and James said their aim is to have as diverse a range of tree species as possible.

"We’ve mixed it up the best we can and they’re all at different stages now because we planted them in different years," James said.

"So far, we have quite a few conifers, like the Norway Spruce and the Douglas Fir, as they’re most suitable for the soil conditions, but we’re looking at getting some Western Red Cedar and Japanese Cedar in too.

"We also want to include broad leaves as much as possible so we have Oak, Alder, Sycamore, and things like that – they’d be considered more native.

"The plus side of having a diverse range of species is that we don’t have all our eggs in one basket, so that if a tree disease comes in, it won’t take them all out."

James said there’s an "ongoing debate" in the farming community on whether forestry constitutes farming.

"I consider forestry as a farm enterprise as opposed to there being forestry and farming, and I don’t reckon the two should be considered separate as we can incorporate it into the farming system," he said.

"If you go over to the continent, southern Germany and Austria, an awful lot of farms over there would have woodland forestry in their systems.

"It’s for various reasons – you produce timber for construction, house building, fence building, and for firewood."

James said the Ham family are considerate of the environment and biodiversity in their forestry practices.

"We’re not doing standard planting; we’re doing a system called continual coverage forestry," he said.

"The difference is you manage it so there’s always trees on the site. You don’t bring it along for 30 years and then take it all out and start again.

"Eventually, a lot of the trees in the woodland in the future will naturally generate through their own seed source.

"It’s healthier and it also has less of an environmental impact – if you come along after 30 years and tear out all the trees, it can upset the rhythm and biodiversity within a woodland."

The Ham family were delighted that their practices were acknowledge by Teagasc. "It’s great to be recognised, it’s our second time and very nice again," said James.

"It was a bit of a surprise too as there was good competition."

James said the forestry work on their Moyvore farm has been a team effort from the entire family.

"They’re all part of the management of the forestry here, even my son Kieran in the Netherlands, we’re all having regular chats about what to do and how to manage things," he said.

"They each have their own jobs, their own lives and they need their own incomes as there isn’t enough from the farm for everyone.

"But the forestry is a means of improving the likelihood of succession for our farm within the family."