Landowners’ invite to forestry event for creating business

West Lothian landoweners are being invited to events to find out about integrating forestry into their business.

The Central Scotland Green Network Trust ( CSGNT), on behalf of Forestry Commission Scotland, is hosting two half- day farm- based walk and talk events in October and November.

The first event, hosted at Ardoch and Threepland Farms, offers landowners and those advising landowners the chance to see existing woodland creation projects on-site and hear, first hand, the benefits of integrating forestry with farming to help diversify income and maximise productivity of their land.

Under the Forestry Grant Scheme ( FGS), farmers across the Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN) area can receive grants of up to £8710 per hectare towards the cost of new woodland planting, which includes a special CSGN additional contribution of up to £2500 per hectare, with monies for fencing and tree protection available in addition to this.

Iain MacDonald, owner of Ardoch and Threepland Farms, received grants from the FGS and is already seeing the benefits of integrating farming with forestry.

He said: “The woodlands originally helped keep the cows out of difficult terrain during calving and now prevent sheep from hiding in inaccessible parts of fields during gathering, which has reduced the resources required and has increased the value of previously unproductive ground.

“Without question, the planting of woodland has been a big success and has benefited the overall running of our sheep enterprise.”

The Forestry Grant Scheme can help to diversify farm businesses through tree planting which can provide additional benefits such as on farm timber, improving shelter for livestock and bringing underutilised ground into productive use for secure longer-term incomes.

Virginia Harden Scott, woodland c re a t i o n development o f f i c e r at CSGNT, said: “With traditional agriculture facing challenging times and uncertainty over future subsidies, landowners are increasingly looking for ways to maximise productivity of their land and diversify incomes. Integrating forestry with farming offers valuable opportunities to do just this.

“These events are an opportunity for landowners to come and talk to us and find out more about the Forestry Grant Scheme, the application process and what the benefits are of integrating forestry into rural businesses.”

For more information on woodland creation and upcoming events, please visit https://www.eventbrite. c o. u k / e / w o o d l a n d - c re a t i o n - a n d - r u r a l - business- diversificationtickets- 37095838652, or contact Virginia Harden Scott at virginia. harden@ csgnt.org.uk.