THE chief executive of the Forestry Commission has backed a move to encourage farmers to plant more trees - and says it will reduce the amount of timber imported by the UK.
Richard Stanford believes the Woodland Creation Offer, which will pay out £10,000 per hectare of new woodland planted, is the ideal opportunity for landowners to utilise "marginal agricultural" space and contribute towards the climate-change fight.
Having been announced this week by the FC and DEFRA, the offer supports the creation of a range of woodland types and size and is part of a bid to meet government targets of planting at least 7,000 hectares of tree each year.
READ MORE: Woodland Creation Offer: Farmers could receive £10k for planting one hectare of trees
And speaking on Friday, Richard outlined that it will also allow farmers and landowners to produce more homegrown timber and reap the financial rewards of it in time. The UK is the second-largest net importer of timber in the world behind China.
“Agricultural and food production is an important aspect of how we use our land," he said on BBC Radio 4's Today. "But don’t forget we have a lot of marginal land, which is not producing much food. It can be better used for nature for carbon capture.
“The other aspect is: don’t forget we are the second-biggest importer of timber in the world after China. Worldwide timber supplies are going to be harder to get our hands on.
“We need to produce our own timber in this country. 80 per cent is being imported."
Woodlands along rivers to improve the water environment, through natural colonisation, for sustainable forestry and where their location and design will provide public benefits, including greater access to nature, are among those in line to receive the cash benefit.
With the farming sector still learning to cope with the loss of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) grant, Richard believes the new offer will go some way to making up for it.
He added: “We will work with you to make sure we can navigate what I accept are some complex landscapes with grants at the moment.
“We within the Forestry Commission will work to identify that land, so we don’t go after that food protection and we can get more trees growing in the ground, which we all recognise we need for nature, for carbon, and for people, of course.
“Not forgetting this is going to create lots of jobs."
Martin Lines, a farmer from Cambridgeshire, was also on the programme. He said: “It is certainly an opportunity I am looking at, but it’s how do I feel it into the other scheme and obligations I have? Contractually, how does it make financial sense in the long-term for my business?
“I have an availability of land to sustain my business. We have food production, we deliver habitats, and it’s about what fits financially but also for the landscape.
“The problem we have is that there are so many different options. As we transition from an EU policy to a UK policy, I am unsure which is the best decision to do at the time. I do know I need to deliver more nature, more carbon capture, and deliver solutions for our carbon crisis.
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“If I plant trees, they are there for a long time, multi-generations. Is that going to be the best use of my landscape? How will I get financial income? There will be some if I can harvest the timber in the years to come but there’s that funding gap in-between.
“There are opportunities. The problem is we have thought in the past of woodland and farming separately. We need to look at a multiple land use approach."
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