Farmers in the Perth & Kinross area who are considering growing trees as part of their farming business, are being invited to a ‘Walking and Talking Trees’ event in Pitlochry. 

The free event is part of the Integrating Trees Network, which is an initiative led by farmers, and supported by Scottish Forestry and the Scottish Government.

Farmer Andrew Barbour and his family of Mains of Fincastle, will be inviting other farmers to take a tour with him on their farm and discuss the benefits of tree planting.

The event takes place on Tuesday 13th September between 1-4pm.

Scottish Forestry’s forestry and farming development officer Lyn White said:

“Our Integrating Trees Network events have been very popular with farmers. They’ve been hosted online for the last 18 months due to the pandemic, but we can now hold the events on the actual farms, which is great news.

“The events are very informal and allow others to see and hear first-hand from others who have successfully grown trees to boost their business.

“There’s never any hard sell. What we are doing is putting farmers in touch with farmers, whilst also giving advice on the funding support available through the Forestry Grants Scheme.

“We welcome anyone to come along and afterwards they can take their own time to decide if tree planting is right for their farm.”

During the event, the Barbour family will introduce everyone to their 540 hectare organic beef and sheep hill farm in Pitlochry.

Mr Barbour will explain his reasons for tree planting and what benefits it has provided the farm but also what challenges he faced at the beginning.

Scottish Forestry will be on hand to discuss the different aspects of funding that is available and what steps are needed in starting out.

Anyone who wishes to book a place on the free event can do so here or through Eventbrite.

Find out more information about our hosts and up and coming events on the Integrating Trees Network, website.