Forestry is a key sector to develop in order to meet climate targets and biodiversity goals. This includes the integration of forestry into farming and the engagement of farmers and landowners in afforestation.
In the current forestry system, afforestation schemes are communicated through large PDF documents, occasional advertisements or promotions in the media, with limited specialised farm advisors across the country. The farmer, if interested in joining a forestry scheme, has to then call a forestry company for more information. This process is often unattractive to farmers as information is not easily accessible, they may not trust the invested farming business to provide independent information, and the lack of familiarity or relationship between the farmer, their local land, and the forestry companies can be a barrier.
Hometree Charity recognised these barriers in forestry communication and created a holistic support framework through the Illaun Farm-Forest EIP to help bridge the gap between government grant schemes and the forestry businesses, with the project team acting as a point of contact and support providing independent, detailed information to farmers on integrating forestry into farm businesses for the 12 participating farmers.
The framework supports farmers in integrating woodlands onto their land in a way which works for the farmer but also for nature, water quality and biodiversity. It includes the following elements:
- Building Relationships: The project team focused on building relationships and trust with the participating farmers through on-farm visits and conversations over the phone. They engaged in meaningful interactions being a point of contact for independent information on forestry practices and schemes.
- Providing independent information: Many farmers do not understand how appropriate tree integration can be a compliment to farming, not a displacement. As the EIP project team were independent from forestry businesses and didn’t have the objective to sell forestry to the farmers they could offer independent information and reassurance to provide an overview of the forestry options available to them which they could participate in at their own will.
- Visual forestry models tailored to farms: After discussing forestry options for each of the participating farmers, and gaining insight into the farmers own hopes, fears, priorities and dreams for their land, a farm plan was drawn up for each farmer. The project team also produced a map using geographic information system (GIS) mapping with an overlay of the potential forestry aligned with the farmers preferences to visually show farmers where exactly trees would go, the different payments they would receive with different forestry features and describe any implications or impacts on their land.
- License admin support: to prioritise long-term native forestry as a viable tool to integrate woodlands onto their land which compliment existing farm enterprises, the project team supported the participating farmers to submit applications for the Native Woodland Scheme which aims to support the restoration of existing native woodlands and the conversion of existing non-native forests to native woodland. 11 out of the 12 participating farmers followed through with submitting their application.
Key to the success of increasing afforestation rates is to build confidence among landowners and farmers of the benefits of forestry as a viable option to complement existing enterprises. Through effective and holistic communication efforts, the project team successfully engaged local farmers in forest restoration and increased their trust and understanding in forestry as a compliment to their farm business, leading to the planting of 30,000 trees in the form of woodlands, shelterbelts and riparian’s tree buffers.
For more information about this innovation, contact Leo at leo@erinn.eu.
