New grants scheme for agricultural woodland projects

The new package of enhanced Forestry Grant Scheme funding aims to encourage more small-scale woodland creation projects of up to 20 hectares.

Support for these smaller woodland schemes, which are often delivered by farmers and crofters, is being raised by an average of 15% across Scotland and by 30% within the Central Scotland Green Network area.

The increase in funding will help cover some of the inflationary pressures that the farming and crofting communities have been facing when growing new woodlands.

Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie said: “Farmers and crofters have a very important part to play in helping raise our woodland creation goals in Scotland. “This £1 million funding boost is designed to support our farming and crofting communities integrate trees into their business plans. Many were hit by inflation and saw material and labour costs rise so this extra help should ease some of that burden.”

The new scheme includes:-

An extra £750 per hectare for the first 20 hectares of new woodland across Scotland An increase of up to £1750 per hectare in the Central Scotland Green Network area to encourage woodland creation near towns and cities Up to £10,000 to help community-led woodland management schemes develop

Woodland creation projects between 20 and 40 hectares will also see an average increase of around 5% and for projects over 40 hectares the rates are unchanged.

Brendan Callaghan, from Scottish Forestry’s, added: “We know that farmers and crofters have a great deal of interest in integrating trees into their businesses. Nearly half of all new woodland applications were from the crofting and agricultural community, but this tailed off due to rising costs of materials due to inflation. “We have taken action to target more support to overcome this barrier and we hope that the increased funding will act as a catalyst for more smaller scale planting in the future.”

Details can be found on the Scottish Forestry website.