Some love them, others hate them: Understanding farmers' tree planting decisions in Scotland

Abstract Agroforestry is increasingly recognized as a sustainable agricultural land use system with potential to sequester carbon, create and repair habitats, enhance biodiversity and offer environmental and socio‐economic benefits, including improved agricultural productivity. Agroforestry has the potential to significantly contribute to Scotland's plans to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2045. However, as in many temperate countries, agroforestry adoption in Scotland remains low and poorly understood, hindering its expansion. To understand and address barriers to agroforestry in Scotland, we conducted 31 interviews with farmers and crofters. This included 21 agroforestry adopters and 10 non‐adopters. Four were classified as crofts, 27 were classified as farms and 5 of these farms were tenanted. Our analysis revealed that an individual's perception of the impact of trees on their farm, their control over and preferences for the tree planting process, including species selection, is a key barrier to agroforestry adoption. Other factors included the availability of financial support, the future economic outlook for their farm enterprises if they choose agroforestry, challenges related to the existing Forestry Grant Scheme, land tenancy conditions that disadvantage tenant farmers and the availability of agroforestry knowledge. We distilled seven distinct responses exhibited by farmers based on the interplay of their attitudes, perceived agroforestry norms, confidence, level of control over tree planting and subsequent maintenance activities. To enhance the adoption of agroforestry in Scotland, it is therefore essential to implement targeted interventions and support mechanisms. These could include establishing a favourable policy environment for tenant farmers, enhancing and making agroforestry incentives more appealing, understanding and leveraging farmers' tree planting preferences and ensuring that agroforestry information is readily accessible to those new to the practice. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.