Tree-planting rates in the UK are lagging against government targets, but ambitions remain high. One way to boost figures is to team up with farmers to diversify their land, but what’s the smartest way to do this? We speak to landowners and experts to find out

Forest creation is a slow business. “You plant the trees,” says Leicestershire farmer James Ludlum, “but it’s five years before you’ve realised that you’ve planted them, they’re such little things in the ground. Then their roots are down and they’ve started to bolt and all of a sudden you have a woodland.”

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In 2004, Ludlum began the process of creating a woodland at Cattows Farm, which lies 16 miles north-west of Leicester. Taking 100 acres of arable land out of production, he planted it with native broadleaf tree species. The intention was to further diversify a family business that had gone from purely dairy farming 70 years ago to include pick-your-own fruit orchards, a farm shop and a restaurant. 

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Nearly 20 years later, and the woodland is a pretty spot for a walk, regularly hosts festivals and sporting events, and is even home to a year-round forest school. Wildlife, says Ludlum, is thriving: “Only the other day I was walking through the forest and a muntjac deer came through one of the clearings. That would have been unheard of 10 years ago.”

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The UK government has set a goal to plant 30,000 hectares of woodland annually by the end of the current parliamentary term. This ambition has been welcomed by many as a significant step to achieve the country’s carbon and biodiversity targets, yet groups as varied as the UK’s forestry trade body and a cross-bench committee of MPs have argued that at current planting rates, it’s unlikely that this target will be met. 

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With agricultural land making up 71% of the total area of the UK, engaging with farmers like Ludlum is one way to turn things around in time to meet those targets. The challenge is that, while national woodland creation grants are available to support farmers and other landowners, these groups are often unaware of them. Or, if they are aware, are too overstretched to pursue funding opportunities, as grant applications can be complicated and time-consuming. Others still are critical, and hesitant to take agricultural land out of use.  

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“I don’t think we had an awareness of why you would plant trees on good arable land,” says Ludlum. “It seemed to make no business or farming sense. But then the National Forest was able to quite clearly demonstrate the benefits of doing it, and we’ve had ongoing support from day one, right up to now.”

In Ludlum’s case, the National Forest’s support has enabled them to build a tourism business at Cattows Farm, with the new woodland attracting customers to the farm shop and restaurant. He also rents out the forest to other businesses, and sells the thinnings of the woodland for biomass and firewood.