New Payments for Tree Planting Through Defra

Defra have announced an update to the SFI and Capital Grant payments with particular relevence to agroforestry and tree planting. As well as the details below, Jim O'Neill, Forestry Comission's Agroforestry Development Manager and current chairman of the Farm Woodland Forum, has provided a summary on the Forestry Commision blog.

Capital Grant Payments

These are payments that can be applied for alongside the SFI actions. The current grants are focused around phyiscial items and general payment support, and are designed to be used with tree planting that takes place as part of the agroforestry SFI actions and other related actions. Full details of each Captial Grant can be found using the Capital Grant Finder.

  • AF1: Plant an Agroforestry Woodland Tree - £5.40 per tree
  • AF2: Plant an Agroforestry Fruit Tree - £17.83 per tree
  • AF3: Supplement - Species Diversity Bonus - £1.16 per tree
  • TE6: Tree guard (tube and mesh) - £3.95 per guard
  • TE7: Tree guard (wood post and rail) - £109.64 per guard
  • TE8: Tree guard (Wood post and wire) - £132.16 per guard

In addition there is also support for developing an agroforestry plan which is based on a template produced by the Forestry Commission.

  • PA4: Agroforestry plan - £1,268.08 per plan

SFI Payments

While no new payments or major updates have been announced for the already existing agroforestry SFI actions, a key change has been the inclusion of some optional advice. This is given in a basic format with a few bullet points covering various topics and considerations to make.

The content that the advice covers includes:

  • Consideration to take into account when planning your agroforestry.
  • Clarifications over tree spacing and densities, particularly in relation to 20% canopy cover and woodland definitions.
  • Management of agroforestry systems.
  • Maintanence of agroforestry systems, particularly the disturbance of soil around trees and tree roots.
  • Increasing the diversity of your agroforestry systems, particularly focusing on the understory and links with SFI schemes for wildflowers and herbal lays.