Helping farmers understand and address ash dieback

Sustainable farming organisation LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) has produced a practical manual with expert guidance to assist farmers and landowners in identifying, assessing and managing ash dieback. This free resource includes sections on:

• Identifying and assessing ash dieback
• Protecting yourself and others
• Preparing to act
• Taking action
• Protecting trees on farm
• Restoring trees on farm

It also looks at wider health and safety issues, legal obligations around felling, ways to reduce the costs involved in managing ash dieback.

Speaking on the launch of the guide, Defra biosecurity minister, Lord Benyon, said:

“Farmers play a critical role as stewards of our natural environment. Trees and woodlands perform a vital role in maintaining a healthy farm ecology, bringing a wide range of benefits to farm businesses and local communities. The Farmer’s Guide to Ash Dieback will support farmers to be proactive not only in the management of their ash trees and the risks associated with this disease, but also in helping to ensure that healthy ash trees remain as a precious and much-loved feature of our landscapes.”

Project lead, Eleanor Marks, technical officer at LEAF explained how the new guide can benefit farmers and the wider industry:

“Ash dieback is present across the UK and is a pressing problem for an increasing number of farmers and landowners.  After hosting a programme of farmer workshops, it was clear there was a real need to raise awareness around the implications of ash dieback and crucially, to provide farmers with support and guidance on how to manage it.”

“The feedback from farmers was that a practical, easily accessible guidance book, backed up with a series of explanatory videos, would offer an effective way to help them tackle this devastating disease and protect or restore trees on farm.”

“We are delighted to have developed this practical resource to enable farmers and landowners to make informed decisions and take the necessary steps to protect people, nature and their businesses from ash dieback and other tree health issues.”

Social scientist from Forest Research and project manager of ‘Knowledge to Action’, Berglind Karlsdóttir added,

“LEAF have done an excellent job at producing a much-needed resource for farmers and other land managers who own a large proportion of the country’s ash trees, not just in woodland, but in their fields, hedgerows and along roadsides. A large number of farmers, farming organisations and forestry professionals have been included throughout the guide development process.”

“Based on this, LEAF have managed to compile and summarise a large volume of complex, technical tree health information and turned it into clear, user-friendly guidance. This has been done with the interests and concerns of their farmer audiences at the forefront. I’m confident that this will be a beneficial resource for farmers, supporting them in making the right decisions for their businesses and the future of their ash trees.”

The ‘Farmer’s Guide to Ash Dieback’ and supporting videos can be downloaded here.