Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of any studies that have been conducted in the UK about integrating the cultivation of trees, crops and livestock on the same agricultural area, and of the conclusions of those studies.

Natural England commissioned a report from the Organic Research Centre and Abacus Organics considering the potential for agro-forestry options in the Countryside Stewardship scheme. The Land Use Policy Group commissioned an independent review of the evidence on agro-ecology including a consideration of agro-forestry, which was published in June 2015.

The Government has not yet made an assessment of these studies but officials will be exploring the evidence base for agro-forestry and how this measure might operate in practice within the Rural Development Programme.