Agriculture: Sustainable Development
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help encourage the adoption of agroforestry systems where crops are planted among trees to help improve (a) biodiversity and (b) resilience.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra recognises that agroforestry provides an important opportunity to increase the number of trees on farms, providing many environmental benefits, while maintaining agricultural production. The key steps the Government is taking are:
- Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier: This scheme provides funding for agroforestry practices, encouraging farmers to integrate trees into their farming systems to improve environmental outcomes and farm resilience. The options include maintaining very low and low density in-field agroforestry on more sensitive land and medium and high density in-field agroforestry, with payment rates of £248 to £849 per hectare per year.
- Agroforestry Plan (PA4): Farmers can receive £1268.08 to complete an agroforestry plan to support planning, creating, and managing agroforestry systems. This includes specialist advice from Forestry Commission or Natural England advisers.
- Sustainable Farming Incentive: This scheme provides funding for agroforestry practices, encouraging farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices that improve soil health, reduce erosion, and enhance biodiversity. The options include maintaining very low density and low density in-field agroforestry on less sensitive land, with payment rates of £248 to £385 per hectare per year.
Schemes are being rolled out in a controlled manner. Due to demand some Capital Grants are temporarily paused and expected to reopen in summer 2025.
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