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Scottish Forestry funding on offer for small businesses to branch out into woodland


By Alan Hendry

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More than £2 million is being made available by Scottish Forestry to tree nurseries, small forestry businesses and farmers to help them gear up and play their part in creating more woodland across Scotland.

And for the first time, through a new agreement with the UK and Welsh governments, tree nurseries in England and Wales that supply trees to Scotland will also be able to apply for the funding.

Scottish Forestry is the Scottish Government agency responsible for forestry policy, support and regulations. The support is part of its Harvesting and Processing Grant, which will help farmers and foresters to buy specialist forestry equipment ranging from polytunnels and seed trays through to mounding equipment, work site welfare units and small-scale sawmills for wood processing.

Announcing the funding, Scotland's rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing said: “Forestry has a key role to play in helping the rural economy recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. I am also determined to see tree-planting increased in Scotland to help meet our climate change targets.

“Assisting smaller-scale businesses to grow and become more resilient is key to achieving these ambitions, and to maintaining livelihoods and creating more job opportunities in remote rural areas. This funding supports investment by forestry businesses in new specialised equipment to increase capacity, expand the business and sustain employment.

“If any of the tree-planting ambitions are to be realised in the UK then we need to be growing more of our own stock. That means increasing nursery capacity here in Scotland but also across the UK.

“I am pleased to be working with the UK and Welsh governments to enab fle nurseries in England and Wales to also benefit from this grant funding. That will help more woodland to be created here."

Rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing on a previous visit to a tree nursery. Picture: Alan Peebles
Rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing on a previous visit to a tree nursery. Picture: Alan Peebles

UK government forestry minister Lord Goldsmith said: “We know the impacts coronavirus has had on tree nurseries, and I am therefore delighted we are contributing much-needed support for this sector.

“Growing and protecting the UK’s forests is an integral part of our green recovery from coronavirus, as we continue towards our commitment to increase tree-planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by 2025.

“We will continue to work closely to grow nurseries’ capacity and resilience, as we plant new roots to make way for a greener, more sustainable future.”

Stuart Goodall, chief executive of forestry body Confor, said: “This is great news, and I welcome the Scottish Government’s rapid response to the concerns that Confor has been raising.

“Small businesses and forest nurseries have been hit by the effects of Covid-19 and, while there are reasons to be optimistic about the longer term, there is a real need for this support now to help those businesses contribute to a green recovery.

“Tree-planting and sustainable production of wood has been one of Scotland’s success stories in recent years and we have the opportunity to help set a robust course towards net-zero by 2045, creating jobs and removing more carbon from the atmosphere.”


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