image expired

The Trust has already begun work tro combat the disappearance of tree's from the UK's agricultural lands and increase their prevalence in the farmed environment. In at-risk areas across the country, the organisation has planted trees to act as defences against flooding, following one of the wettest year's in living memory, which had serious implications for UK farming. Well placed-trees enable water to percolate further into the soil, and the more water that enters deeper soils, the less is lost in runoff

In Northern Ireland, a concerted effort to plant trees on farms has had benefits in terms of emissions mitigation and preventing soil erosion. Soil erosion is a problem in the UK, where an estimated 2.2 million tonnes of topsoil is lost annually, although the Woodland Trust experts put the actual figure somewhat higher.

With woodland covering just 7 percent of Northern Ireland's land area, the country falls below both the UK average of 13 percent and the European average of 44 percent. Of the UK's  tree-cover, only 2 percent is ancient woodland.  According to the Ancient Tree Forum, set up by the Trust, "Farmland practices included the removal of hedgerows, hedgerow trees and many small woodland copses as a means of expanding field sizes and the converting pasture to arable, which usually included the removal of farmland trees, has furthered the decline of the tree in the British landscape."

Calls for industry to rise to challenge

Commenting on the Woodland Trust's activities in Northern Ireland, UFU president Harry Sinclair urged farmers to bear in mind a piece of age-old wisdom; he said, "There is a Chinese proverb, 'the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago' the next best time is now". I would urge farmers across Northern Ireland to consider the opportunities to plant trees now, which will benefit the farm and our beautiful countryside for future generations to come."

To this end, the Trust organised its fringe event at the Oxford Farming Conference. The event, How Trees Help Farms Work Harder, saw experts from the Woodland Trust interact with delegates and launch a call for UK farmers to "help demonstrate the commercial benefits that tree planting delivers on farm," as well as other, non-commercial advantages.

Although the Trust's Woodland Creation Director, John Tucker, who was speaking at the event, said a wealth of evidence is available that demonstrates the benefits of well-placed trees to farming systems in temperate regions – data from the UK itself is currently lacking.

Mr Tucker said, "We are building up strong evidence, not just about the advantages of tree planting for wildlife on farms, but also about the positive commercial benefits. However, we are seeking more farmers to work with the Woodland Trust to help us build up our knowledge and demonstrate how [tree planting] can work in practice.

"The Woodland Trust can help with funding, practical assistance and advice. We would then work with chosen farmers to monitor progress and report back to the industry."

The Woodland Trust speakers revealed that, according to provisional data from researchers in Manchester, "water infiltration rates can increase by 60 times within 5 meters of shelter belts after just three years of plating," compared to concrete. This has impacts for mitigating flooding, runoff and erosion.

They added that shelterbelts of trees have been shown to increase wheat yields by 3 percent in an average year and said the margin of improvement increased further in drier years. Mr Townsend ventured, "of course there are no additional input costs related to that increase in yield, so it represents a proportionally greater increase in gross margin."

He continued, "Land sparing will continue to be a vital part of what we do, but land sharing is one practical solution that works on a farm-scale." However, he added, "In the absence of payment for such measures, farmers must be made aware of the non-market benefits, as well as the potential for financial advantages." Although he said he preferred not to use the term, Mr Townsend explained such non-market benefits could be described as "boosting ecosystem services."

According to evidence published by the Trust, mostly taken from research carried out at Harper Adams University College, the benefits trees provide to farmland systems include:

• Improving crop water efficiency – supporting crop and pasture production during drought

• Aiding livestock management, and wildlife, by reducing heat stress

• Supporting bees and other pollinators

• Improving water infiltration to reduce runoff of soil, nutrients and pesticides

• Reducing risk of repeat operations due to wind or water erosion

• Protecting water courses from the effects of such erosion.

The Trust's speakers said that, contrary to the common belief that tree and hedge cover on farmed land acts as a reservoir for pests, the inverse has been widely demonstrated to be true. Grants for farmers are available and the pair urged farmers with under-used land to contact the scheme's organisers (woodlandcreation@woodlandtrust.org.uk). Mr Townsend concluded that, although the approach may not be suitable for "grade one agricultural land, there are places where it is viable and financial support is improving." 

See also: http://www.farming.co.uk/news/article/6111