A fresh spat has erupted over the planting of trees on more than 1,200 acres of farmland in the north and north-east.
The Scottish Tenant Farmers Association (STFA) has urged all farmers to respond to a Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) consultation which outlines plans to plant trees on agricultural land near Huntly and Keith.
The tenants body is asking for the land to be turned into further starter units for new entrants wanting to get a food on the farming ladder.
The land in question comprises three farms bought by FCS before the formation of the Woodland Expansion Advisory Group, which was set up to develop recommendations on how to increase woodland cover in Scotland without compromising other sectors such as farming.
The first of the three farms is Culdrain farm, near Huntly, which comprises 158.6 acres of arable and 17.8 acres of rough grazing land.
The second is Upper Tullochbeg and Ittingstone, also near Huntly, which consists of nearly 200 acres of arable land, 83.5 acres of permanent pasture and nearly 250 acres of rough grazing – buildings plus 110 acres of this have already been leased out as a starter farm.
The third holding is Curlusk and Broadfield, near Keith, which comprises 444 acres of rough grazing land.
“Much of this farmland being considered for woodland creation is productive land,” said STFA director Angus McCall.
“The arable land at Culdrain, for example, is described by the Forestry Commission themselves as ‘being mostly intensive agricultural land’. Planting with trees would be totally inappropriate.
“The land has been recently cropped and the farm would provide an ideal starter unit for a new entrant. Similarly some of the land at Upper Tullochbeg is good grassland and really should be added to the existing starter farm to increase its viability.”
An FCS spokesman said: “We are just starting the initial stages of a consultation for the future management of these areas of land – no decisions have been taken.
“We’d welcome views from a wide range of stakeholders and the community and once we have these we will certain take them into account before any plans become finalised.”