Incentives for growing trees in NI will be mainly targeted along waterways and on less productive areas of farms, Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots told MLAs on Monday.

“We are looking at how we can support people to plant riparian boundaries and to plant out woodlands in areas that are not used as much on the farm, so that the woodlands will have the least impact on the farm’s production,” he said.

Farmland

The minister also confirmed that schemes will still be available for planting productive farmland in trees. “It is about working with people in the agriculture sector to ensure that they get the right fit for what they do,” he said.