Unlocking the potential of trees on farms and crofts

As the general election campaign enters its final week, it has been notable that food and farming appear well down the list of priorities for the main parties.

Much of the debate has focused on issues such as immigration, taxation or energy policy – and the manifestos were generally light on detail around tackling the nature and climate emergencies and addressing poor dietary health.

Not so at the Royal Highland Show, where Scottish politicians flocked to demonstrate their commitment to agriculture and rural communities.

Amid a packed schedule, Soil Association Scotland was delighted to secure Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands Mairi Gougeon MSP to speak to our launch event for a new policy report with Woodland Trust Scotland.

Engaging with government

The Cabinet Secretary was joined by the Minister for Agriculture Jim Fairlie MSP, opposition MSPs from the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Greens, as well as senior civil servants and representatives of industry bodies and a range of NGOs, at our drinks reception on Friday. The new report, Unlocking the potential for trees on farms and crofts in Scotland, sets out detailed and fully costed policy options for integrating trees.

We hope it will prove a useful addition to ongoing discussions around future support for agriculture.

The project was based on what we consider to be a gap in the current grant provision for trees on farms. There are good options within the Forestry Grant Scheme – as well as some options through the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme – but at the moment, there is nowhere for farmers to turn to for support for low-density, small-scale planting.

Working from the ground up

Since the Soil Association was founded nearly 80 years ago, we have taken pride in working from the ground up and innovating solutions that work for farmers.

That’s why it was so important for us that primary producers played a key role in the development of these policy options.

The first stage, beyond the initial review of academic evidence, was to bring a group of farmers and crofters together for a workshop to talk about the current grant options, the gaps in provision, and the type of planting they want to do.

The outputs from that session fed directly into what we think are practical, sensible options that will allow our farmers and crofters to carefully integrate trees into their systems while maintaining – or in some cases improving – productivity.

Breaking down the options

A brief summary of the six selected options below:

1. Silvopastoral low density trees: at 10-30 trees per hectare, this option is designed to provide shade and shelter for livestock and help create new wildlife habitats on farm.

2. Silvopastoral tree enclosures: fenced off enclosures of varying sizes for native trees and shrubs to provide fodder for cattle and create a seed source for potential natural regeneration.

3. Small farm woodlands: on 0.25 hectares or less at 3m spacing to provide shade, shelter and/or timber, control of run-off and protection of water margins.

4. Silvoarable alley cropping with wildflower strips: diversifying farm income from tree products (e.g. fruit, nuts), protecting arable soils from erosion and improving pollinator habitat.

5. Hedgerow and field boundary trees: shelter for crops and soils (and browsing for livestock), improved habitat connectivity and watercourse protection.

6. Enhanced biodiverse hedgerows: creating wide and diverse field boundary hedgerow habitats (four rows of trees 1.5m apart).

Our conclusions

The recommended grant levels for each option combine the cost of establishment and maintenance, income forgone, and potential costs saved. This methodology conforms to World Trade Organisation standards for providing grant aid to farm businesses.

It is important to us that as many farm businesses as possible can access these payments and plant trees, and we are recommending a simple, non-competitive application process and a single up-front payment.

We are also aware of the budget pressures facing the government. We have estimated that budgets of £10m or more – a fraction of the total spend on agriculture and rural development – would double the land currently under agroforestry systems in Scotland.

We think that would be a positive step forward in building resilience into our farming systems, helping farmers and crofters adapt to a changing climate and improving biodiversity on our farmland.

We look forward to discussing the detail of this report with Scottish Government, Scottish Forestry and NatureScot over the coming weeks.

Link here to the full report and costings, along with the shorter summary version: Agroforestry resources | Soil Association