Campaign calls on more to branch out and create woodland

A DRIVE to encourage farmers and landowners to plant and manage more trees has been launched.

The Forestry Commission and Defra are drawing attention to the grant schemes and free specialist advice available through the campaign.

Woodland creation offers a profitable way for farmers and landowners to boost their business, as well as deliver environmental benefits, alongside food production.

The grant schemes will help land managers diversify their business, with the potential to receive a grant of over £10,000 for every hectare of woodland created.

It follows publication of the England Trees Action Plan which committed to treble tree planting rates by the end of this Parliament – to at least 7,000 hectares of trees a year in England. This equates to just 0.08 per cent of the 9.3 million hectares of farmland in England changing to woodland each year by the end of that period.

There are a variety of funding opportunities available to support the creation of woodlands, provided by both Defra, the Forestry Commission, and other woodland creation partnerships across England. Through the Forestry Commission’s England Woodland Creation Offer, farmers and landowners will be paid to create new woodland on areas as small as one hectare (and that can be made up of smaller plots) – from small scale planting on marginal or unproductive land to large mixed woodlands.

With this support, converting marginal or unproductive land into new woodland can create additional income streams - without taking good agricultural land out of use. Importantly, they will be able to transfer to an environmental land management scheme without having to repay the current funding, meaning there’s no need to delay planting trees now.

Tenant farmers can receive England Woodland Creation Offer funding if both they and their landlord are content with the tree planting proposals.