Interest in agroforestry in Scotland is greater than it ever has been. Agroforestry can be defined as the integration of trees on farmland, and this can take the form of individually protected trees within grazed (silvopastoral) or arable (silvoarable) fields, or blocks of fenced woodland, shelterbelts, hedges or individual trees. This article we focusses on silvopastoral and silvoarable agroforestry systems.
For decades (apart from a few exceptions, notably the James Hutton Institute’s Glensaugh research farm) agriculture and forestry were separated on the ground and in people’s minds. Slowly but surely, this is beginning to change. The Scottish Government is committed to supporting agroforestry because of its potential to mitigate the biodiversity and climate crises. To achieve this, we need farmers to choose to plant trees on their farms.
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