Scots open consultation on farm woodland opportunities

Farmers, crofters and community woodland owners are being invited to have their say on future forestry grant support in Scotland.

Since it was started in 2015, the Forestry Grant Scheme has supported 5,930 projects, creating about 69,000ha of new woodland, an area equivalent to the size of East Lothian.

About half of the current woodland grant applications are for small-scale projects, mostly from farmers who are integrating trees into their businesses. 

See also: Strong Scottish market sees more land sold in 2022

A 12-week public consultation has been launched seeking views on how the scheme can be better integrated with other sources of funding to strengthen net-zero, biodiversity, economic and community wealth-building priorities. It closes on 17 May.

Scottish government environment minister Mairi McAllan wants to hear from a wide range of stakeholders through the consultation, including farmers who are interested in planting trees.

Andrew Adamson and Mairi McAllan at Netherurd Farm © Scottish government

Andrew Adamson recently invited Ms McAllan to his farm at Netherurd, near West Linton, Peeblesshire, to hear what farmers would like from the Forestry Grants Scheme.

Mr Adamson is one of the hosts in the farmer-led Integrating Trees Network and he has been planting trees for many years.

He said: “My message to farmers is that tree planting can really provide many benefits to you farm, but you have to know exactly what you want from it.”

To tackle the twin crises of climate change and nature loss, the Scottish government is increasing its woodland creation targets year on year, rising to 18,000ha of new woodland each year by 2024-25.