Forestry grants are being made available to help foresters, researchers, landowners, nurseries and seed suppliers benefit from up to £4.1 million to enhance domestic tree and tree seed production. The new grants will equip nurseries and help the sector meet the ambitious statutory tree planting targets, while supporting green jobs, helping to boost growth in the sector.
This will help ensure the UK plants treescapes that are resilient to stresses including climate change and pests and diseases, while bolstering capacity to meet the Government’s ambitious tree-planting targets.
Forestry Commission Chair Sir William Worsley said: “Supporting domestic tree and tree seed production can be at the very root of growth opportunities for our sector. Our grants have the potential to ensure there is a reliable supply of diverse and high quality trees for future planting to the Government’s tree planting targets, improving timber security whilst boosting employment and the wider green economy. I encourage all eligible applicants to come forward to help us support the sector to grow and thrive.”
These grants have already seen funding being awarded to a vast range of organisations across the public, private and third sectors, ranging from established tree and tree seed suppliers to new entrants to the sector. Details of previously supported projects can be found here.
Through the Tree Production Capital Grant, for example, funding has enabled community tree nurseries to purchase polytunnels and seed processing equipment, and supported larger nurseries to invest in machinery to improve their efficiency.
The Tree Production Innovation Fund unlocks new technologies that can enhance the quantity, quality and diversity of tree planting stock, for example funding work into reducing synthetic fertiliser use in forestry, which later led to crowding in of Danish venture capital seed to launch natural fertiliser company Re-Genus.
It also supported Rhizocore Technologies to develop locally adapted mycorrhizal fungi pellets to enhance tree growth, resilience and greater carbon capture by soil. The pellets are designed to be placed into the topsoil with saplings during tree planting. They keep the fungal symbionts they contain alive for months, enabling the formation of mycorrhizal associations with the planted trees. Field data has shown sites using the pellets have significant improvements to both tree growth rates and survival rates.
Dr Toby Parkes, Founder and CEO, Rhizocore, said: “Tree Production Innovation Fund funding has enabled Rhizocore to develop its products and systems, transitioning Rhizocore from a research phase to a commercial phase and enabled us to develop the first commercially scalable system for delivering live, locally sourced ectomycorrhizal fungi to field planting sites. This foundational work has enabled Rhizocore to establish the data and systems needed for us to supply local ectomycorrhizal fungi to the forestry sector into the future.”
Planning and planting new seed stands and orchards and management of existing seed stands are examples of eligible activities for Seed Sourcing Grant funding.
