Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding her Department is providing for research into ways to increase tree numbers outside of woodlands.

Over this Parliament, we will have invested over £6.5 million in research into trees outside woodlands, including agroforestry. This includes a partnership with the Tree Council, Natural England and five local councils, testing and developing innovative and sustainable new ways to increase tree cover outside woodlands. The first phase has planted more than 121,000 trees and demonstrated ways to reduce costs of establishment. Phase 2 will further research the effectiveness of tree planting methods and approaches in non-woodland areas, so that more, healthier trees can be planted in these areas in future. This work has informed the approaches funded through Coronation Woods, announced to mark the King’s Coronation, which will see tree planting in community orchards, small areas of woodland, and ‘tree handouts’ – supplying trees to local residents to plant in areas of their choosing. The Trees Outside Woodland project will evaluate the effectiveness of this scheme as part of its programme of research.

We are collaborating on the £15.6 million multidisciplinary Future of UK Treescapes programme which is funding several projects investigating Trees Outside of Woods. Separately, five of the tests and trials for our new environmental land management schemes on farms are exploring approaches to agroforestry. This includes the Organic Research Centre working with 250 farmers to look at the incentives and advice required for farmers to incorporate agroforestry practices. Interim Findings show that awareness is an issue and that incentives need to reflect the long-term nature of the commitment.