TENANT FARMERS are being replaced with trees on some of Scotland's largest estates, it was claimed this week.

New incentives and targets to increase Scotland's woodland cover are encouraging landowners to terminate insecure farm tenancies and free up land for tree planting, according to the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association.

“The trees versus tenants debate is set to reignite," said STFA chairman Christopher Nicholson. "For a few years we have been seeing upland and hill farms coming out of tenancies frequently being planted with trees and to make matters worse, we are now seeing some of the large estates bringing Limited Partnership and Limited Duration Tenancies to an end to make way for trees."

But landowners' leader David Johnstone has retorted that, amidst the uncertainty over what public funding will be available to support farming post-Brexit, it was "legitimate" for farm landlords to look long and hard at the viability of agricultural units.

The last time this row bubbled to the surface of landlord/tenant relations, the then Rural Affairs Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead setting up the Woodland Expansion Advisory Group to manage tree planting targets in ways that would complement and integrate with other land uses, especially agriculture, wherever possible.

Mr Nicholson pointed out that those accords were now under severe pressure: “For a variety of reasons, mainly associated with grant funding, woodland creation targets have not been met. Consequently the Scottish Government has recently announced an increase in targets from 10,000ha in 2020 to reach 15,000ha per year in 2025 and onwards.

"There have also been promises of improved funding and greater prospects for the forestry industry post Brexit," he noted. "This has obviously given the forestry industry a new boost and is stimulating landowners to plant trees, raising again the dilemma of finding suitable land for trees without conflicting with agricultural production.

“Many landlords now view forestry as an attractive alternative to tenant farming and the losers in this drive towards tree planting are the tenants and their families whose tenancies are being cut short leaving them to find new homes and occupations," said Mr Nicholson.

“This is quite callous treatment of tenants most of whom will have farmed the land for well over twenty years."

Responding, Scottish Land and Estates chairman Mr Johnstone said: “Landowners want to make the best use of the land. That includes different forms of farming. Estates with land to let want to let land to tenants where it makes business sense to do so.

“Any attempt to create a ‘trees versus tenants’ debate is, we believe, misleading and too simplistic," he said. "Increasingly, there are efforts to see farming and forestry as existing side-by-side as part of diverse, rural land-based businesses. Also, land that can generate sustainable income through agriculture will continue to be farmed.

“Looking ahead, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the amounts of public funding that will be available to support farming so it is legitimate, indeed necessary, to look long and hard at the viability of agricultural units – tenanted or owner-occupied – and how those units can be organised to secure their future or make the best use of the land.

"We believe that identifying the best possible use of land in Scotland in a way that supports our rural areas, whilst aiding government policy targets, whether it be through agriculture or forestry, is the correct approach to take.”