Key findings and best practices from the Rokwood Project supporting short rotation plantations

Rokwood was an ambitious three-year, six-country study which aims to make the regionally based production of woody biomass economically attractive, technically feasible and environmentally sustainable. Funded by the European Commission, Rokwood focuses on researching the development, implementation, monitoring and utilisation of woody crops grown in short rotation plantations (SRPs). The project has come to an end but all the resources and research can be found at http://www.rokwood.eu/ The final report from this project can be found here

Update on Energy Crops Support

Eugene Hendrick (Department of Agriculture) Chairs a Working Group on biomass supply, and addressed the meeting Stakeholder Meeting with DCENR 24 Nov 2015. He reported that the bioenergy scheme, which has funded energy crops for several years, is currently closed pending a review in early 2016. A new forest-fibre scheme is also being assessed, which is looking at further unlocking of resources, and also possibly short rotation forestry (SRF).