Sheep farmers can turn profit from woods

Sheep farmers reliant on UK government subsidies could profit from letting their land naturally return to woodland, a study suggests.

Most sheep farming in the UK is not profitable without subsidies, if farmers are paid for their lab our, according to the research from the University of Sheffield.

But farmers could make money by allowing native tree store turn to their land and selling “credits” for the amount of carbon dioxide the trees absorb as part of efforts to tackle climate change. The study comes as the ggovernment shifts the post-brexit farming payments regime away from subsidies for the amount of land farmed to paying for “public goods” such as storing carbon and stopping flooding.

Livestock farming is heavily dependent on subsidies and also generates greenhouse gas emissions. Sheep farming accounting for around 1 per cent of the UK’S total climate pollution, the university’s Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures said.

But the UK, with tree cover of 8 per cent, making it one of the least densely forested countries in Europe, has a large potential for restoring and creating wood lands to helps oak up carbon emissions. The research found farmers with at least 25 hectares of land could turn a profit if they allowed it to naturally regenerate into woodland and were paid as little as £3 a tonne for the carbon the woods store.