Confirmation this week that tree planting is driving the price of hill farms is nothing too surprising, but we need to think to the future.

While change in the countryside is inevitable, there needs to be consideration of what upland regions will look like in 20 years time.

The Government needs to produce future estimates on where the massive increase in tree planting will end up. Survival of the fittest in the uplands could lead to a complete mess.

On-farm small-scale planting will take up some of the planting aspirations, but there are still large tracts of Scotland to go under trees if targets are to be met.

This means that we need to be sensitive to where gets consent to plant trees, as if this is not handled correctly, then rural and remote economies and communities could be devastated.

The Government needs to produce future estimates on where the massive increase in tree planting will end up

Negative impacts

Sadly, the negative impact of large-scale tree plantation is yet to be appreciated by the general public. This was demonstrated by the planting bidding war at the recent general election, when parties tried to outdo themselves by committing more and more of the country under forest.

It was as if where the trees were to be planted was a barren wasteland, crying out for a purpose in life.

Furthermore, we need to see what comes out of research like SRUC’s project into grazing cattle emissions. It isn’t clear how much is emitted from a grazing system, so the facts need to be produced before we can accurately assess the needs from our rural landscape.

The impact of increased tree planting is already pushing out farming so a planting plan is needed to ensure the maximum number of farm businesses survive into the coming decade.