BM Rural Outlook - Flipbook - Page 8
6 | Rural Outlook Issue 21
Agriculture | 7
Forest of ELMS trees
“The Government has pledged that the
country will be ‘carbon neutral’ in only three
decades, an ambitious policy that requires
action from all sectors of the economy.
“While technological solutions to climate
change are expected to make a big
difference, tree planting is seen as a
major way to soak up carbon and also
bring a range of other benefits including
ecology, health and flood management.
“Clearly, without knowing your starting
position it is very difficult to show any
improvements and without knowing how
much carbon you could sequester it is
difficult to sell that capacity to buyers
looking to offset their own carbon
footprint,” she said. “Take advice, find
the right tool for your own business and
then plan how you can benefit from the
growing market in carbon.”
While the concept of ‘selling’ carbon
storage may not be the easiest for
everyone to grasp, it is essentially “ just a
commercial deal,” as Charlotte explained.
“At Batcheller Monkhouse we have a
huge amount of experience in negotiating
commercial deals across the board – from
solar parks to housing developments.
Selling carbon is no different at the end
of the day and we have the skills to help
and advise anyone who wants to take
advantage of the opportunity.”
Charlotte has a word of warning for anyone
who thinks that tree planting alone is the
answer to carbon capture and storage.
“Species rich grassland can be just as
important as trees and planting trees in
every spare field just to lock up carbon
could lead to habitat loss,” she explained.
“In the right location, trees can contribute
immensely to locking up carbon, but
landowners need to do their homework,
understand the value of the habitats they
already have and work out how much
carbon is already stored on their land,
as well as its potential.
“The thing to bear in mind is that soil
– particularly nutrient-rich soil – locks
up three times as much carbon as the
atmosphere, which is why min-till systems
can be good for the environment as they
cause less disturbance to the soil.”
One other new area of potential income for
landowners is in working with developers
who need to follow the planning rules
on biodiversity net gain. While the
regulations encourage developers to
improve biodiversity on site, they have
the option of funding improvements
elsewhere if doing so as part of their own
development would be too challenging.
“Clearly, without knowing
your starting position it is
very difficult to show any
improvements and without
knowing how much carbon
you could sequester it is
difficult to sell that capacity
to buyers looking to offset
their own carbon footprint.”
Batcheller Monkhouse is working
with developers who are looking for
opportunities to fund conservation or
carbon storage schemes on nearby sites,
either by buying land and carrying out
environment-friendly initiatives on it or
by funding schemes carried out on their
behalf by landowners.
“It’s a real potential growth area and
we would advise landowners to get in
touch with us or with nearby developers
if they think they have a site that
would help a builder comply with the
biodiversity net gain requirements,”
said Charlotte. “Again, this is just a
commercial arrangement and we can
make sure the landowner or farmer
gets a fair return. This is a particularly
live issue around larger towns such
as Hailsham and Hellingly.”
The other way for farmers to improve
their carbon storage is through
regenerative agriculture, which
Charlotte said had proved profitable
for many of the ‘early adopters’ who
had switched to a low disturbance,
low chemical approach; Leo Hickish
explains more on page 8.
“The last general election saw the
political parties falling over themselves to
make the most ambitious tree-planting
promises, and these have now seen the
light of day as a UK-wide policy to plant
30,000 new hectares of trees every year.
“The science behind the issue is far less
clear cut. Trees absorb varying amounts
of CO2 at different stages in their life cycle,
and the practicalities of planting such
a massive area of woodland every year
will raise many questions, not least from
landowners, who clearly have a much
better idea of the issues involved than the
politicians making the promises or the civil
servants tasked with delivering on them.
“If the Government is to achieve anything
like its goals, we will need to see a
massive shift in policy. Landowners will
need to be persuaded to turn huge areas
of land, most of it currently presumably
farmland, over to trees.
“Previous grant schemes have simply
paid landowners a grant towards planting
plus additional payments after five and
ten years towards maintenance costs. It
is difficult to see how else this could be
achieved in the future, and with ELMS on
the horizon I assume that a significant
part of the funding available will have to
be focused on achieving these targets.
A UK-wide policy to plant
30,000 new hectares of
trees every year.
“It will also be vital to ensure that the
ecology of parts of the UK is not trashed
by planting the wrong trees in the wrong
places; one thinks of current examples of
uplands being carpeted with blankets of
non-native conifers.
“Whatever details emerge in due course,
I am certain that there will be great
incentives over the next few years for
landowners to plant trees, but as with all
such schemes, taking good advice
from experts will be vital, and Batcheller
Monkhouse is here to help.”
“The industry is starting to realise that
continually ploughing the land and using
a lot of chemicals is not the way forward
and has stripped a lot of organic matter
from the soil over the past 100 years.
“This is a big change for farmers,
but it’s also a big opportunity, not
least to cut the costs of inputs
while still maintaining yield levels.
Batcheller Monkhouse is on hand
to provide advice to anyone who
is contemplating jumping off that
particular cliff.”
Charlotte Pearson-Wood
c.pearson.wood@batchellermonkhouse.com
Throughout the country, huge amounts of land will have to be turned now to tree planting
Alex Wilks
a.wilks@batchellermonkhouse.com