FORESTRY COMMISSION Scotland has unveiled a new funding package to encourage hill and upland sheep farmers to establish new woodlands, of between 10 and 50 ha, on their land.

The Sheep and Trees Forestry Grants Package, part of the wider Forestry Grant Scheme, will enable farmers to apply for both a woodland creation grant and a forest infrastructure grant for the same area at the same time, allowing them to build access routes whilst also getting grants to get new woodlands established.

A typical 50 ha woodland could receive up to £200,000 for woodland creation and up to £40,000 in infrastructure grant aid – and crucially, that funding will not affect an applicant’s Basic Payments entitlement.

Head of Forestry Commission Scotland, Jo O’Hara, was at pains to stress that the aim was to create woodlands that would compliment livestock businesses: “It is vital that farmers can continue to keep their sheep on the hills. Our new grants package can support this through helping them integrate woodlands into their business, increasing its commercial viability.

“Carefully managed woodlands can increase farm productivity and provide many other benefits too," she insisted. "The funding package creates an excellent opportunity to diversify and take advantage of land previously not considered possible due to a lack of access."

FCS stressed that, before creating the Sheep and Trees Forestry Grants Package, it had consulted with both the NFU Scotland and the National Sheep Association.

The union's policy director Jonnie Hall commented: "While blanket forestry on productive land remains a hugely contentious issue with our membership, for many of those who keep sheep on hills and uplands, this presents an opportunity to plant the right trees in the right place.

"Done well, it can provide valuable shelter belts grown on poorer areas, improve the overall health and management of the flock, be a route into upgrading fencing and access and provide a diversified income stream," said Mr Hall.

"There is an important role for forestry within the Scottish agricultural sector and this scheme shows that woodlands can be better integrated into agricultural land use, without compromising our ability to produce livestock and crops or the significance of those activities to local economies, biodiversity and communities.

"Future land use should not be a stark choice between farming or forestry, renewables or conservation," suggested Mr Hall. "While food production must be the priority, all can be accommodated if the policy framework that drives land use decisions can be more coherent and better integrated."

Speaking for the NSA in Scotland, chairman John Fyall observed that the FCS package was relatively small in a hill context and correctly targeted at active farmers could provide benefits.

"Whilst we will never endorse blanket afforestation and at the moment are actively campaigning on some of the issues around large plantations, NSA is happy to work on small schemes at an individual's choice. By being at the table going forward we'd hope to influence environmental and small commercial packages genuinely useful to progressive stock farmers," said Mr Fyall.

Applications for the FCS funding are open all year round. For further information visit: www.forestry.gov.uk/scotlandgrants