LEADER grant helps forestry firm to innovate and improve productivity
A LEADER grant in Estonia helped a family firm innovate by modernising its forest seedling production facility with new, automated equipment, which increased business competitiveness and reduced resource inputs.
A LEADER grant in Estonia helped a family firm innovate by modernising its forest seedling production facility with new, automated equipment, which increased business competitiveness and reduced resource inputs.
LEADER’s flexibility helps communities to use the methodology and related funding for many different types of project activity. This includes supporting the benefits that EU forestry provides for rural areas. Local Action Groups (LAGs) can provide a useful source of assistance for local forest action through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plans (CSPs).
Forestry is an essential rural land use for the CSPs, which are targeting almost 623 000 hectares of afforestation or agroforestry restoration during the new CAP programming period from 2023 to 2027. Such CSP support aligns with the EU forest strategy for 2030, reflecting the multifunctional role of forests in achieving a climate neutral economy by 2050 while preserving the prosperity of rural economies. LEADER can complement mainstream CSP forestry interventions through LAG support for ecosystem services, such as storing carbon in soil and biomass as well as reducing emissions and providing rural employment. LAGs are also able to boost cooperation among forest stakeholders by networking forest-related innovations.
There are many EU Member State good practices in funding forestry with LEADER, such as an Estonian project working to improve supplies of forest seedlings by modernising a nursery production process. A grant from the Jõgevamaa Koostöökoda LAG was awarded to this project, which was developed by a family business seeking to expand its market share to fill a gap in supplies of Estonian forest seed stocks.
A sister and two brothers who run the Ruupa tree nursery took a keen interest in following the latest state-of-the-art technologies available to improve the company’s productivity. Prior to the LEADER grant, the nursery had been sowing seeds manually but this was relatively expensive in terms of labour cost and the quality of seedlings was not always dependable. Thanks to the LAG co-finance, a new and automated sowing process reduced manual labour, improved plant quality and increased the percentage of seeds that germinate. Seed sowing time improved by 25% and plant growth stabilised. Furthermore, the new machinery created circular economy benefits by reducing resource inputs.
See more details about the LEADER project, including information about its success inspiring the family firm that is to be involved in launching a network of Estonian forest plant growers.