It’s time to harness growing interest in agroforestry

It feels like agroforestry is having a moment right now.

At the start of September, the Woodland Trust and Soil Association organised the UK’s first Agroforestry Show at Eastbrook Farm in Wiltshire. The show brought together over 1,300 delegates from across the farming, forestry and policy worlds to hear about how the practice of incorporating trees into the farmed landscape can help both the environment and farm businesses.

Agroforestry can take many forms, from simple boundary agroforestry like hedgerows and shelterbelts, to silvopastoral systems where livestock graze among trees and silvoarable, or alley-cropping, where rows of trees are planted within arable fields. As well as providing a way to increase tree cover without taking land out of food production, agroforestry can deliver multiple other benefits including carbon sequestration, shelter and shade for crops and livestock, improved soil quality, prevention of run-off from farmland and habitat for biodiversity. Depending on the trees planted, there’s also potential for an additional crop.

At the end of August, the Woodland Trust took Labour’s Shadow Farming Minister, Daniel Zeichner MP, to visit Stephen Brigg’s Whitehall farm in Cambridgeshire. The area around Stephen’s farm in the flat Cambridgeshire landscape suffers significant wind erosion. Stephen has been able to reduce this on his farm, and improve soil quality, through creating an organic silvoarable orchard system across 52ha of the farm. They also provide an additional crop, with Stephen selling the apple juice he produces in the on-site farm shop.

During the visit, we enjoyed lively and thought provoking discussions between Daniel, Stephen and WT staff, on the many benefits of trees on farms. Daniel was able to hear how a desire to prevent his soil literally blowing away was what first interested Stephen in agroforestry. He also heard that, rather than taking land out of production, planting 4,500 apples trees on the farm has actually improved overall productivity per hectare compared to monocropping.

Reflecting on the visit, Daniel Zeichner MP said:

“The work that Stephen Briggs has done is an excellent example of the potential that agroforestry holds for the future. I had read about it, but to see a county farm in Cambridgeshire transformed in this way is extraordinary. A national transition to more nature-friendly and environmentally sustainable ways of producing food is essential, and examples like this show that agroforestry will play an important role.”

As the turnout at the Agroforestry Show demonstrates, farmers are increasingly appreciating the value of trees on farms. This regenerative farming approach can help increase farm resilience and adaptation to climate change through providing shelter and shade, helping to retain water in the ground and providing carbon sequestration.

Up to now, there haven’t been any government grants in England that support agroforestry, although the Woodland Trust’s Trees for Your Farm scheme has helped nearly 250 farmers establish agroforestry on their land. But with interest in agroforestry increasing, we’re seeing growing interest in supporting agroforestry, with all four UK Governments developing schemes as part of their post-CAP subsidy programmes.

Agroforestry has considerable potential to help deliver on our environmental commitments and targets, but currently many farmers are unfamiliar with this approach and the initial costs of establishing a scheme can be high. Strong government support, both financial and good quality advice and guidance, will be needed to realise this potential.

We’re anticipating an announcement on future support in the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme soon and hope that this will provide the impetus needed for agroforestry to be more than just a moment and to become a mainstream land use in the UK.

Notes to editors

For more details about this release contact Natalie Stephenson, senior PR officer at the Woodland Trust on 0343 7705795 or email nataliestephenson@woodlandtrust.org.uk

About the Woodland Trust

The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the UK. It has over 500,000 supporters. It wants to see a UK rich in native woods and trees for people and wildlife.

The Trust has three key aims:

1. protect ancient woodland which is rare, unique and irreplaceable
2. restoration of damaged ancient woodland, bringing precious pieces of our natural history back to life
3. plant native trees and woods with the aim of creating resilient landscapes for people and wildlife.

Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 29,000 hectares. Access to its woods is free so everyone can benefit from woods and trees.