How many rural amenities need to close, farming families disappear, and wading birds go elsewhere (if there is such a place for them?) before the powers that be realise that the current tree planting agenda is threatening Scottish rural life on a grand scale?

This week (pages 6 and 7) we report from several farmers and shepherds in Dumfries and Galloway who have witnessed neighbouring farms left, right and centre, being bought up at inflated prices to be turned over to tree planting.

This includes farming families, many of whom had worked the land for multiple generations, passing on intimate knowledge of the land and local wildlife to the next generation, only for it to be lost for good. No wonder they feel like hefted ewes being cleared from a hill.

Many spoke of buyers from south of the Border, or abroad, with no interest in the history, or consequences of the land, but only in whether it will return a good investment, or greenwash their carbon consciences.

With government offering healthy financial incentives to plant trees, many estates and farmers can hardly refuse such offers, especially at a time when farming is becoming increasingly non-viable due to mounting pressures on the industry, with inputs rising and labour uncertainties ongoing.

Government is only too aware of issues of rural depopulation, particularly with young folk relocating to urban areas and who can blame them if the current tree planting agenda is wiping away any sense of community spirit. Why would young families settle in areas where their only neighbours are trees and local primary schools are closing down as a result?

Farmers and crofters are the lifeline of many rural communities, investing hugely in local infrastructure and amenities, but the same year-round support cannot be replaced by temporary tree planting work and timber contractors.

This should not be a case of farming versus trees, as the integration of woodlands into farm businesses should be encouraged, but sadly the current blinkered approach appears to show little regard for the social and economic impact on wider rural communities too.

The argument of the right tree in the right place is one that not many could argue against but, unfortunately, at The Scottish Farmer we too often hear of wholesale productive farming land being turned over to trees – irreversible land-use change which will take that ground out of food production forever.

This cannot be allowed to happen on the scale that it is happening at this time, or else down the line, as our population continues to grow, we will have choices to make. To import more of our food, export our carbon footprint abroad, and turn our reliance to intensive farming systems which might not sit well with public opinion, never mind the 'green' agenda.

Since Brexit, we often criticise Westminster for using farming as a political pawn in pursuit of new trade deals. Well, the same could be said for the treatment of our farmers and rural communities in pursuit of tree planting targets.

Farming families cannot be allowed to be wiped from the map and it is about time that we all 'woke' up and started valuing our rural infrastructure before we have a rural desert on our hands.