So is this going to persuade you to plant land with trees?

[holwellcourtfarm]

A summary of the new England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) from S&P

5 things to know about the England Woodland Creation Offer

The Forestry Commission has unveiled details of the new tree planting grant scheme – the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) – which aims to to encourage more farmers and land managers to plant trees.
The grant, backed by almost £16m of funding in its first year, is part of the government’s strategy to treble tree planting rates in England by the end of the current Parliament.
There are a number of differences from previous grant schemes which the government is hoping will make it more attractive to landowners.
Key points of the scheme are as follows:

1. The scheme will support small-scale and large-scale woodland creation
The England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) replaces the Woodland Carbon Fund, which was the main funding scheme for larger scale planting.
The minimum size of woodland under the Woodland Carbon Fund was 10 hectares, but under the EWCO there is a minimum woodland size of 1 hectare per application, with a minimum threshold of 0.1 hectare per block.
Funding will predominantly be focused on the creation of native broadleaf woodlands at a large scale, but Defra says it will also support well-designed majority conifer and mixed woodlands.
Applications can be made year round.

2. The payments are more generous than under the Woodland Carbon Fund
The scheme will pay up to £8,500/ha to cover up to 100% of the costs of planting and establishing a new woodland. Previously payments were capped at £6,800/ha for the majority of schemes, with only projects in priority areas attracting the higher level of funding.
Once the capital works are complete, annual maintenance payments of £200/ha are available for 10 years.

3. Top-up payments are on offer for the provision of public goods
Additional funding is available for woodland that provides public and wider environmental benefits. This is consistent with the government’s push towards ‘public money for public goods’, with woodland owners able to benefit from the ecosystem services that their woodlands provide.
Additional payments available are as follows:
• nature and species recovery – between £1,100/ha to £2,800/ha available where woodland creation will help woodland-dependent priority species to recover;
• tree planting near watercourses and rivers (riparian buffers) – £1,600/ha available where the creation of native broadleaved woodland along water courses will improve river habitats;
• reduced flood risk – £500/ha available where woodland creation can help reduce the risk of flooding;
• improved public access – £2,200/ha available where woodland creation will provide long-term permissive access to the public to enjoy
• close to settlements – £500/ha available where woodland creation will provide social and environmental benefits by being close to people;
• improved water quality – £400/ha available for woodlands that clean water by intercepting pollution and sediment before it reaches watercourses.

4. Landowners will also be able to sell the carbon credits
The EWCO has be designed to allow farmers to also access green finance opportunities.
Applicants will be supported to register their planting under the Woodland Carbon Code, to allow the future sale of woodland carbon credits to private buyers.

5. It is an interim grant scheme only
It is hoped that the ECWO will support the creation of more than 10,000 hectares of new woodland over its lifetime. However, Defra has already said that its intention is to roll it into the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme after 2024.

 

[teslacoils]

A bargepole long enough to touch this does not exist.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

how can you sell carbon credits, when planting trees on permanent pasture releases carbon that is stored in the soil?

 

[ISCO]

I have never planted trees on this scale and i am not interested in this scheme.
Purely out of interest what does it cost to plant a hectare of woodland? will the payment of up to £8500 per hectare cover the initial cost of planting a hectare of new woodland along with tree guards and fencing etc.?

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I have never planted trees on this scale and i am not interested in this scheme.
Purely out of interest what does it cost to plant a hectare of woodland? will the payment of up to £8500 per hectare cover the initial cost of planting a hectare of new woodland along with tree guards and fencing etc.?

I took part in a CLA ELMS T&T session recently around woodland creation with folk of varying scale who already had woodland (from 10 acres to 750 acres). The concensus was that the existing £3500/Ha or so came nowhere near the full cost of creation and that £250/Ha/Yr for 10 years was unsufficient for maintenance. That was before you factored in loss of value on putting productive land in (and being forever unable to convert it back thereafter). Not so bad if it was a commercial block for future harvest but way short if it was a mixed deciduous block purely for ecological benefit unless you could claim decent ONGOING carbon payments for it. Without that money it looks like the Government plan for 30,000 Ha/yr by 2023 is probably doomed to fail. Badly.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

how can you sell carbon credits, when planting trees on permanent pasture releases carbon that is stored in the soil?

And may never recover the total lost even when the trees are mature....

 

[Gong Farmer]

There was a comment on here long ago, I think relative to tree planting for HS2, that the survival rate of new plantings was around 25% (?). How would that fit into this scheme?

 

[teslacoils]

60 percent devaluation of land. No thanks.

 

[Dry Rot]

Not England, but I entered a Scottish scheme some time ago. The software was pretty horrific, even FC staff were laughing at the cock ups and bugs. The 'officer' who came here did not know how to measure acreages off a plan (I had to teach him) and approval came back including rabbit fencing a very long strip (so totally uneconomic and no rabbits anyway) that had not even been discussed. I gave up when the scheme came back approved but not possible to go ahead as they had run out of money, which was strange as I had been amongst the first to apply. These days I am wiser and try to have nothing to do with any government schemes, including BPS, which seem to be devised to give the unemployable employment!

 

[7610 super q]

I'd rather just plant what I want, where I want, with my own funds, in my own time.
As an aside, squirrels trashed my last batch of oak saplings. Little bastewards.🐿

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Intersting poll so far (but probably rather self-selecting):

So that's a No then.....

 

[PSQ]

how can you sell carbon credits, when planting trees on permanent pasture releases carbon that is stored in the soil?

Carbon Credits are a con, to absolve the rich and famous from actually having to practice what they preach.

It's not that different from selling 'papal indulgences', where all your sins can be absolved if you contribute to the church roof restoration fund.

With 'Carbon Credits' you can absolve yourself from being part of the problem and fly 5400 miles from LA to London to preach to the 'muggles' and tell them not to ruin the Emma Thompsons future. Have an underling buy some carbon offset scheme promising to plant a few trees, and no one will notice that you're a rank hypocrite. Apparently.

Same goes for a certain person who made a career from preaching about the 'environment' and telling people not to pollute the atmosphere, but who also makes lots of money from selling very expensive celebrity guided long haul holidays. Never mind the irony, cold hard Carbon Offset cash will Greenwash (TM) all your Public Relations problems away!
- For £13,600 (per person) you can forget all of your climate sins, by jetting off to Papua New Guinea with none other than Chris Packham:

Chris Packham - Tour Expert - Group Tours | Steppes Travel

Chris Packham, an accomplished photographer, cameraman, author, conservationist and TV presenter, has led multiple wildlife group tours for Steppes Travel.

www.steppestravel.com

 

[Ffermer Bach]

more importantly that is

I have never planted trees on this scale and i am not interested in this scheme.
Purely out of interest what does it cost to plant a hectare of woodland? will the payment of up to £8500 per hectare cover the initial cost of planting a hectare of new woodland along with tree guards and fencing etc.?

more importantly that is a hectare that can never be agricultural land again, so is effectively lost to agriculture for ever

 

[primmiemoo]

A well presented piece here under the slightly misleading headline ...

Climate change: Planting extra trees will boost rainfall across Europe

Converting agricultural land to forestry would boost summer rains by 7.6% on average, a study finds.

www.bbc.co.uk

The laws of unintentional negative outcomes don't need much of a helping hand at the best of times. Britain has a maritime climate, which (broadly speaking) doesn't need encouragement to further wetness.

 

[Goweresque]

I took part in a CLA ELMS T&T session recently around woodland creation with folk of varying scale who already had woodland (from 10 acres to 750 acres). The concensus was that the existing £3500/Ha or so came nowhere near the full cost of creation and that £250/Ha/Yr for 10 years was unsufficient for maintenance. That was before you factored in loss of value on putting productive land in (and being forever unable to convert it back thereafter). Not so bad if it was a commercial block for future harvest but way short if it was a mixed deciduous block purely for ecological benefit unless you could claim decent ONGOING carbon payments for it. Without that money it looks like the Government plan for 30,000 Ha/yr by 2023 is probably doomed to fail. Badly.

One suspects that if the grant for planting trees has been raised by the State then magically the quotes from contractors to supply and plant those trees will all rise as well.....................

 

[Hilly]

Just been watching a harvester on a large clear fell
Site , hell of brash stumps left to rot and soil with nothing growing , will all the rotting brash stumps not realise carbon ? Machines and trucks and burning it in a power station not realise carbon ?

 

[steveR]

more importantly that is

more importantly that is a hectare that can never be agricultural land again, so is effectively lost to agriculture for ever

Which is my response everytime, is that when the capital payment comes a lot closer to the current land value/ha, then add the planting and maintenance payments on top.... then I might consider a small scheme on unproductive corners.... £30k/ha??

 

[steveR]

A summary of the new England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) from S&P

5 things to know about the England Woodland Creation Offer

The Forestry Commission has unveiled details of the new tree planting grant scheme – the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) – which aims to to encourage more farmers and land managers to plant trees.
The grant, backed by almost £16m of funding in its first year, is part of the government’s strategy to treble tree planting rates in England by the end of the current Parliament.

I am looking for the correct emoticon for this..... two or three come to mind initially.

 

[DrWazzock]

Just been watching a harvester on a large clear fell
Site , hell of brash stumps left to rot and soil with nothing growing , will all the rotting brash stumps not realise carbon ? Machines and trucks and burning it in a power station not realise carbon ?

Same down here. 50 year cycle from planting to clear felling. How does it store carbon? Stumps and brash cart deep. Hell of a fire risk.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Same down here. 50 year cycle from planting to clear felling. How does it store carbon? Stumps and brash cart deep. Hell of a fire risk.

I am sure I have read, that it only stores Carbon if the wood produced is stored and not burn or allowed to rot down, and even then, it only sequests the same as permanent pasture anyway, and if it is on peat, less.