Meeting of the Parliament 24 January 2017
I refer members to my register of interests.
I am glad to be able to speak in the debate today—especially as we await the final plans from the Scottish Government on the future arrangements for forestry management.
There is great deal of consensus across the chamber on the goals and priorities for forestry management; we all recognise that forestry is a vital part of the rural economy. I particularly welcome Jim Mackinnon’s report, which is a practical and clear document that includes many good recommendations.
With Scotland’s forestry sector currently contributing around £1 billion a year and supporting 25,000 jobs, it is vital that we encourage what can be described only as a growth industry. It is also important that forestry is valued in its own right, and for our professionals to demonstrate that planting trees will secure the long-term supply of productive timber, sustain jobs in rural areas and help Scotland to achieve its ambitious climate change targets.
As forestry will soon come under the direct control of Scottish ministers, we must ensure that it does not become subject to the whims of electoral cycles: the industry requires a long-term view and a consistent mindset. My colleagues and I are clear that we must retain the knowledge, experience and long-term planning that we currently have in the Forestry Commission Scotland. Indeed, I argue that we should strengthen and develop that skills base.
I welcome the new increasing annual target, which will rise to 15,000 hectares of new trees by 2025. I believe that the target is achievable, but I am concerned that, with the Government having missed its targets of 10,000 hectares being planted every year since 2012, we are setting ourselves up for failure, unless the process of applying for permission to plant is simplified and sped up, and has costs removed from it.
Less than 20 per cent of Scotland’s land area is currently forest, which compares poorly with Spain, which has 37 per cent, with Finland, which has 73 per cent and with the EU average, which is 37 per cent. In north-east Scotland, 17 per cent of agricultural land is currently reported as being farm woodland, which is slightly more than 80,000 hectares.
I have a good example. I know a north-east farmer, Mr John Munro, who has demonstrated the potential benefits of farm woodland on his farm. After buying 60 hectares of heavy clay land in 1991, John set about establishing commercial woodland—mostly Sitka spruce. Since then, he has succeeded very well. He is taking advantage of high-quality wood that is ideally suited to timber processing, and the work to deliver his wood stock over the winter ties in well with his farm business. He is also now making profit and employing a member of staff.
That model is absolutely the norm in Scandinavian countries. Across Finland, Sweden and Norway, most farmers are also foresters, so there is nothing unusual about a farmer harvesting crops over the summer and using the same equipment and tractors to harvest timber over the winter months. I argue that we need a complete change of mindset in the farming community here if we are to encourage more planting by farmers. Unlike Scandinavians, Scottish farmers are not natural planters of trees and there is little history of farming and forestry being integrated in Scotland. The argument has often been that good sheep country has been used for planting trees on and that livelihoods have been lost, as a result. However, it is often the case that using such land for trees will provide just as many jobs and deliver more output per acre than when it is used to farm sheep.