2024 Award Winner’s Spotlight: Best Practice Award: Knowledge Sharing

Scottish Forestry and Scottish Government

Project Name: Integrating Trees Network

This award was sponsored by:

The Integrating Trees Network (ITN) is a collaborative initiative by the Scottish Government and Scottish Forestry, aimed at promoting the integration of trees into agricultural landscapes across Scotland. Through a series of farmer-led events, both in-person and virtual, the ITN encourages farmers and crofters to consider planting and managing trees on their land. The initiative facilitates knowledge sharing among farmers, crofters, and technical experts, highlighting the benefits of tree integration for agricultural businesses, climate resilience, and biodiversity conservation.

The ITN relies on volunteer hosts, farmers, and crofters who generously share their experiences of incorporating trees into their operations. Despite minimal funding, the initiative has thrived, leveraging community engagement even during the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that left many farmers feeling isolated. Various resources, including a website, videos, and publications, offer accessible information tailored to the needs of farmers and crofters. Feedback from participants shapes the content and focus of events, ensuring relevance and usefulness.

The initiative builds its programme of events with its audience. Frequent opportunities to feedback topics of interest are an important part of how the initiative operates. The most popular events have focused on integrating trees to improve biodiversity on farms, the Woodland Carbon Code, and how best to design shelterbelts. Events cover a range of topics, from biodiversity enhancement and carbon sequestration to practical considerations like funding access and tree species selection. Farmer hosts provide authentic insights, offering a realistic perspective on the benefits and challenges of tree integration. Ongoing monitoring indicates high satisfaction among participants, fostering confidence and intention to implement tree planting.

Central to the ITN’s approach is effective communication, emphasising peer-to-peer engagement to inspire behavioural change. The initiative collaborates with various organisations within the agriculture, land management, and environmental sectors, expanding its reach and impact. By showcasing success stories and facilitating dialogue between farmers and policymakers, the ITN influences policy development and promotes best practices in land management.

This approach ensures that the network reaches across the agriculture sector as well as more broadly across the land management and environmental sectors. The ITN was showcased at CIEEM’s 2023 Scottish Conference in Edinburgh, two joint Scottish Land and Estates (SLE) & ITN Expert Panels at the Royal Highland Show, with Ministerial attendance, as well as at the UK Agroforestry Show. The ITN and its hosts have been featured on BBC’s Landward and FAS TV.

The ITN’s outreach promotes the network through extensive joint communication via social media and wider publications with organisations including: NFU Scotland, SLE, QMS, Nature Friendly Farming Network, Scottish Crofting Federation, Farm Advisory Service, NatureScot, Scottish Young Farmers and Highland Environmental forum.

Furthermore, the ITN serves as a platform for research collaborations, such as the FARM TREE project, which develops decision support tools for tree expansion on farmland. Events cater to diverse audiences, including crofters, and feature expert speakers providing specialised knowledge and guidance on topics like shelterbelt design and funding opportunities.

The initiative extends its educational outreach beyond events, with host farmers participating in conferences and engaging with students to share their experiences and insights. By fostering intergenerational knowledge transfer, the ITN encourages future generations to embrace sustainable land use practices.

In summary, The Integrating Trees Network is at its heart a project focused on effective communication to a diverse audience as a way to inspire change. It plays a vital role in promoting agroforestry and tree integration within Scotland’s agricultural sector. Through community-led events, resource dissemination, and policy advocacy, the ITN contributes to building resilient and sustainable agricultural landscapes for the benefit of both present and future generations.