What type of Eucalypt is it if you dont mind asking ? Something like Snow Gum that will stick the frost ?come on fella...tell me how and where this is happening?
Mass evictions? I'm surprised it's not nationally newsworthy.
I say again, I hear -and I do keep a weather eye on it- of complaints when a long term tenant doesn't want to leave come the end.
But thats not what you seem to be talking about.
and how is this being funded other than grant aid for planting which is available to anyone controlling the land.
As we discussed, you clearly have had bad experiences, but it might do you no end of good to recognise that it's not always as you have seen.
as for blankets of sitka?...... my views are complex- like the subject- for this one post.
I'm a multi-generational hill farmer (500 years plus on the same hills), and I have also planted bits of farmland all my adult life -just back now from putting 200 eucalyptus in, on steep lowland freehold of mine...i am at that cutting edge for once!
There's a place for it, although UK agri and forestry has a historic separation you don't find in most euro countries.
Trees are just another crop.
The highly productive blankets of sitka are an eco-desert, and not popular for that reason.
(and it's increasingly recognised within the industry that breaking up species and age classes is a much safer way to proceed, although that has to be balanced with labour availability/economic potential/ and the very few species that will tolerate the exposure that sitka does)
The tax break planting in the 70s and 80s have kick started a huge home based industry.
The employment and balance of payments suggests we have nationally done the right thing overall by going down this route.
The fact that - in several cases- different people have got the new work, and the trade is increasingly going through a tiny number of expanded corporate interests isn't good for PR, but is a reflection of reality.
The fact that so many feel aggrieved reflects several aspects of the above. And I can't right all of those 'wrongs' for you, sorry.
Looking in from the outside, land for planting in Scotland is looking cheap, and the business has loads of potential.
Why don't you buy some and plant your own? It would appear to be yielding £100/acre after all expenses once established.