The Benefits of Creating Woodland on Your Farm

Reasons to consider planting trees

1. Prevent soil erosion

An estimated 2.9m tonnes of topsoil is eroded in the UK due to wind and rainfall – planting tree shelterbelts around your farm lowers windspeed to help reduce that erosion. Creating woodland between the field edge and a river can reduce sediment run-off by 90-100%, nutrient losses by 20-80%, and reduce pesticide loss in run-off by 60-100%.

2. Protect livestock and crops

Trees help protect livestock and crops against more frequent extreme weather conditions that we’ve seen over recent years. Planting a shelterbelt of trees gives protection that could reduce lamb losses by up to 30% and increase overall productivity.

They can also help to safeguard crops from strong crosswinds and heavy rainfall and even prolong the growing season for grass by raising the soil temperature during colder months. Integrating trees into your landscape can also protect crops during periods of drought, by reducing wind speeds and helping to reduce moisture lost to the air.

3. Generate reliable income streams

With timber in high demand now and likely to remain so in the future, you could benefit from reliable short or long-term revenue streams: planting and harvesting fast-growing trees that can be coppiced or felled on a frequent cycle can provide a quicker return. Local woodfuel production can provide efficient on-farm energy savings to heat your buildings or give you an income from sales.

There are also other wood products to consider, such as Christmas trees, wood for construction and furniture, as well as coppice materials or wood chippings and temporary fencing.

4. Diversify your business

Creating woodland can help you diversify your farm practices, helping to strengthen business resilience and generate alternative income streams. With that in mind, woodlands can provide the perfect setting for recreation and leisure activities, including glamping, game shoots, and mountain biking. You could also consider alternative crops to produce and sell.

5. Cut farm pollution

The Environment Agency has recorded that approximately 25% of phosphates and 50% of nitrates found in our rivers come from agricultural practices. Planting woodland shelterbelts around your farm can reduce spray drift up to 90%, as well as helping to capture pesticide run-off and ammonia released from livestock units.

6. Offset your carbon emissions

Woodlands play an important role in addressing climate change. Trees act as a natural ‘carbon sink’ by removing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Registering your new woodland with the Woodland Carbon Code allows you to sell carbon units for every tonne of carbon dioxide sequestered as early as five years after planting, validating, and verifying your woodland through the code. This could help you to generate revenue through their sale or help to offset your farm business’ carbon emissions to help meet increasing demand for net zero supply chains.

7. Increase farm productivity

Combining trees with crops and livestock can result in healthier soil, which could lead to more sustainable yields and enhanced biodiversity. Agroforestry can also help increase farm productivity and get a dual crop from the same piece of land. Finding the right areas on your farm to plant trees (where grazing is poor, or the land requires more fertiliser) could reduce inputs and improve overall productivity.

8. Create natural flood management and improve water quality

Woodland in the right place helps slow run-off from your land as well as helping to reduce water pollution in our streams, rivers, and lakes.

9. Boost biodiversity

As custodians of just over 9 million hectares of our English countryside, you can play a pivotal role in boosting nature recovery. All woodlands are home to a wealth of wildlife, from red squirrels to goldcrests, and create a habitat for a rich array of plant and fungi species.