CAW petition on farmland tree planting

RURAL campaigners have launched a petition calling on the Welsh Government to stop buying productive farmland for tree planting.

Campaigners argue that while tree planting bring benefits to the environment, both the government and private companies should not be planting trees on land which can be used for farming, claiming it “threatens food security and self-dependency”.

A Freedom of Information request by Countryside Alliance Wales (CAW), shared with ITV Cymru Wales, revealed that since 2019, more than £6m of public money has been spent on buying land for woodland creation.

This figure includes £4m that economy minister Vaughan Gething confirmed was spent buying Gilestone Farm in Talybonton-Usk to “safeguard the future” of the Green Man music festival

Nearly £400,000 was spent on farmland in Anglesey to plant trees, and £1.4m at a site at Brownhill in Carmarthenshire’s Tywi Valley. The Brownhill site is one of three woodlands planned in memory of those who died from Covid-19.

Another is on the National Trust’s Erddig estate in Wrexham.

The plans involve planting at least 60,000 trees, sparking fears that valuable agricultural land will be lost.

In its petition, the CAW said it is “deeply concerned” about the practice of using trees planting on farmland to off-set carbon emissions. It demanded greater protections from private investors for rural communities in Wales.

It added: “The Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales should be meeting the challenges of the biodiversity and the climate change crisis by supporting regenerative farming and working landscapes.

“Trees are part of a working landscape and can be supported through farming schemes, but it is about having the right tree in the right place and demonstrating that tree planting needs to work in harmony with food production.”