Forest Plan / Evidence / Farming Voice
Farming Voice
Over 70% of Cumbria’s land area is farmed [V]. We recognise the central role farmers have in the expansion of tree and woodland cover within Cumbria Community Forest (CCF), and the opportunities for transformative benefits to farm businesses and rural communities through woodland creation and agroforestry.
To date, Raise has worked with several farms to support on-farm woodland creation and agroforestry: where trees are integrated with food production and farming systems. Some farm case studies are detailed on the Raise website.
Many of the organisations participating in the Cumbria Community Forest Partnership also work directly with farmers in Cumbria and offer channels for farm woodland and agroforestry advice. They are well placed to provide information about the CCF offer alongside other relevant schemes.
In preparation of this Forest Plan, Raise undertook a programme of consultation and reflection to explore how farmers may perceive the CCF woodland creation and agroforestry offer. This included anonymous reflections from the Raise team’s conversations with local farmers, and structured consultation meetings with farming advisers, some of whom are farmers themselves.
All the interactions involved some information sharing around Raise: CCF’s offer, either through a presentation and/or discussion, or through direct involvement in a CCF-funded site. Discussions often involved reviewing resources from the developing Forest Plan, such as the opportunity mapping undertaken for CCF.
The key questions we aimed to answer were:
What are Cumbrian farmers’ first impressions of the Cumbria Community Forest (CCF) concept and offer?
What opportunities with CCF appeal to farmers?
What are the barriers to farmers engaging with CCF?
What wider benefits do farmers perceive with regards the expansion of CCF?
What further information about CCF do farmers require?
[V] Area of Cumbria is 676,800 hectares (Cumbria Lord Lieutenant, 2023 Cumbria and its history). Total farmed area on commercial holdings in Cumbria is 475,171 hectares as at 2021 (Defra, 2024 Statistical Dataset: Structure of the agricultural industry in England and the UK at June).
All data was anonymised, and the outcomes are summarised and paraphrased below.
A limitation of this process is the relatively small number of people involved in these consultations due to project resource constraints. We can see that ‘data saturation’ was not reached – that means we encountered new points of information throughout the consultation process, which indicates that we have not reached a complete understanding of farmers’ views on Cumbria Community Forest (CCF).
Raise: CCF will continue to seek, listen to and consider farming voices on an ongoing basis to inform the delivery of CCF.
Summary of responses and findings
Below we summarise key points raised by the people we’ve spoken to as part of our ‘Farming Voice’ consultation. We have grouped these points into themes which indicate how Cumbrian farmers may perceive Raise: CCF and our woodland creation and agroforestry offer.
First Impressions
- The Raise approach and funding offer seems bespoke to people
- Funding distributed across 15 years is refreshing to see
- Availability of ongoing forestry advisory support will lessen risk of failure
Farms will be supported:
- Comes across as multi-purpose, which is unique
- Place-based elements of the approach stand out
- Social benefits are integrated into the plan
- Interests of local residents are considered
A fresh approach:
Opportunities
- Opportunities for all farms
- Compatible with livestock
- Opportunities for riparian (riverside) tree planting, e.g. to slow the flow of water
- Orchards may be attractive
Wide options for farmers:
- Less administration for applicants than other schemes
- Smaller and complex schemes can be supported
- Speed of the process is appealing
- Heard from a farm involved that it’s a simple and supportive funding process
An attractive and accessible process:
- Supportive pathways to sustainable, nature-friendly farming
- Potentially more employees on farms in various skilled jobs
- Farm diversification
Further potential for farms:
…there would be scope for additional trees or woodland on just about every farm, and this offer provides a way forward for everyone – through benefits from animal shelter, good quality fences, hedgerows, tree pasture…
Barriers
- Farm tenancy adds complexity to funding application process
- Ensure landlord-tenant relations considered at an early stage
- For common land, help identify the applicant and beneficiaries
- Some economic opportunities from trees are unavailable to tenant farmers, e.g. harvesting wood fuel, selling carbon credits
Land Rights:
- End of Basic Payment Scheme causing uncertainty and forcing a choice: intensification vs agri-environment schemes
- Correct, timely information is critical
- Potential to conflict with other environmental funding uptake, clarity needed
- There is a cashflow ‘pinch point’ in early years of transition from one farming system to another
- Tax implication of payment phasing needs to be understood
Farm finances:
Designations:
UNESCO requires a large range of assessments to undertake changes (relevant in the Lake District UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Wider benefits
Community:
On-farm woodland as a community asset, opportunities to bring people onto the farm for a range of activities
A feeling that life is better with more people working on the farm
Aesthetic and wellbeing:
Views and change of environment on the farm
Space for reflection
Mental health benefits
Joining up:
Systemic benefits e.g. flood risk management
Alignment with current focus for other organisations: nature / climate and people / access
Requests for further information
Evidence & examples:
- Evidence for wood pasture / agroforestry benefits
- Where has Raise already worked with farms? How many?
- Case studies in different geographical areas and types of farm
Eligibility:
- Am I eligible for this support?
- Is my farm inside/outside the CCF boundary?
- Is there an altitude limit for tree planting?
Project support:
- How to develop a site, timelines e.g. for ecological surveys
- Support to realise on-farm educational provision
- Linking with partners to make more of on-farm planting
- Are Raise calculating carbon capture?
Allaying concerns:
- Public access being at landowner discretion where no existing rights
- Tax implications of CCF grant phasing
- What happens in change of circumstances within the 15-year grant term, e.g. change of tenancy?
