ABSTRACT

The Sheep and Trees initiative was introduced by the Scottish Government in 2017 as part of wider efforts to support farm diversification and the promotion of tree planting aligned with meeting sustainable development objectives. Designed to promote integrated forestry in upland farming across Scotland, the initiative has, to date, had a very low uptake. This study explores attitudes within the Scottish upland farming community towards integrated forestry in general and the Sheep and Trees initiative specifically in an attempt to understand why uptake has been low. We found that although upland farmers had positive attitudes towards certain types of integration, reinforcing the findings of previous studies, negative attitudes were also widespread which could act as a deterrent towards participation in the Sheep and Trees initiative. The species of trees and styles of planting supported by the Sheep and Trees initiative appear to be misaligned with the preferences of farmers wishing to adopt an integrated forestry system. The paper concludes with some recommendations for refining the Sheep and Trees initiative which could enhance its attractiveness to large scale, commercial concerns and to other upland farmers interested in planting trees for amenity and environmental benefits.

摘要

苏格兰政府于2017年推出了``绵羊和树木倡议''，作为支持农场多样化和促进植树造林的更广泛努力的一部分，以实现可持续发展目标。该计划旨在促进整个苏格兰高地农业中的综合林业，但迄今为止该计划的吸收率很低。这项研究探索了苏格兰高地农业社区对整体林业和“绵羊与树木”倡议的态度，主要是为了了解为什么吸收率低。我们发现，尽管高地农民对某些类型的整合持积极态度，这加强了先前研究的结果，但消极态度也普遍存在，可能对参加“绵羊和树木倡议”产生威慑作用。绵羊和树木倡议支持的树木种类和种植方式似乎与希望采用综合林业系统的农民的偏好不符。本文最后提出了一些建议，以完善“绵羊和树木倡议”，以提高其对大规模，商业性以及对种植树木以改善环境和环境效益感兴趣的其他陆地农民的吸引力。