Try the APP4Future interactive search tool

Understanding the effects of climate change on your land is recommended before you choose which trees to plant on a large scale. This site will be updated as Forest Research updates their database on tree species suitable for the future.

Why agroforestry – what it can do for your land

This APP has been designed to help farmers take the step of using agroforestry to protect soils from extreme climatic events, such as soil erosion from heavier rainfall, and mitigate drought and high temperature events with cool shade and water retained around trees in soil.

Farmland soil is the most precious soil, with grades 1-3 for growing crops, and why it is vital that farmers have an effective way of protecting farmland soil, this irreplaceable natural resource. Agroforestry is the best all round solution to do this now and for the future.

Agroforestry is the deliberate integration of trees into farming. It has a wide range of benefits: sequestering carbon, intercepting and holding rainwater runoff, mitigating flood risks, preventing soil erosion, creating cool under-storey shade for wildlife and livestock, mitigating the effects of drought.

APP4future (Agroforestry Pollinator Plantations for the future) schemes also provide habitat and forage for pollinators, whose populations are declining. Supporting pollinators is vital for nature and our farmed landscape, increasing pollination and yields of all insect-pollinated crops.

Pollinator-centric agroforestry can also provide extra income with many vital products: Phytochemicals and oils for medicine, honey for medicinal and future antibiotic applications, fruit, nuts, wood by-products, and most importantly pollen and nectar for pollinators themselves.

Why wild species?

We advocate wild species trees and plants as, unlike cultivars and varieties bred for specific traits, they hold the ability, within their gene-pools, to evolve and therefore to survive climate change, and develop some resistance to pest and disease. We also recommend trees which are Plant Healthy and UK and Ireland sourced and grown (Woodland Trust UKISG) for optimum biosecurity. Working with Forest Research, we hope to continually update our current list.

How to design your own APP for the future

This new interactive database, APP4Future will firstly give you access to Forest Research’s state-of-the-art Ecological Site Classification (ESC), APP model, giving you information on suitability of tree species, also allowing you to see how climate change will likely affect your holding. Future climate scenarios adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) of greenhouse gases concentration trajectory, all of which are considered possible depending on the volume of greenhouse gases emitted in the years to come. RCP is directly linked to global mean average temperature in Celsius.

These tools will enable you to make an informed choice of which wild species trees have the greatest chance to survive climate change predictions on your land site. We’ve also included information on other outputs from trees in farming to help you assess how it fits with your other enterprises and business, as well as ideas for planting schemes and configurations. Planting in mixed species stands provides the best outcome for both tree species and their pollinators as this provides forage over a greater part of each season, helping ensure pollinators don’t starve.

How it works

Pinpoint on the map, linked to the Forest Research ESC (Ecological Site Classification) your land site or plot you wish to plant agroforestry trees on. Then choose a future climate scenario based on the IPCC’s Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) Best case, lower-mid case, upper-mid case or worst case scenario. Lastly choose a future date up to 2060-2080, then you need to name your site so that you can keep a printout or download at the end of the search of data about your land site in your chosen scenarios.

Next, you will be taken to the page of results returned by Forest Research’s ESC: Land Site and Future Climate Suitability for Tree Species in Agroforestry Pollinator Plantations (APP). The method Forest Research uses to assess land site suitability for trees, and returns results according to various suitability factors, will be explained, and a traffic lights suitability key used. Currently 38 species, approved by Forest Research for agroforestry, are available on the system and more will be added in future as they are deemed suitable.

The following section titled: Tree Species Attributes & Uses in Agroforestry, found under each species name and ESC site suitability traffic-light values, is accessed via link: Show Attributes and Uses in Agroforestry. This will provide farmer perspective information on each species’ usefulness in agroforestry and the farming environment, with input from the Soil Association, extensive literature review and Dr. Michael Street with Bee Happy Plants & Seeds.

We hope you enjoy using APP4Future, the ultimate tool for choosing pollinator-centric agroforestry – Right tree, right site, right climate. Feedback via the Contact page questionnaire is welcome.

Further ideas on APP4future design planting schemes and ongoing maintenance guidelines, put together by the Soil Association can be found from the home page under ‘Support’ – ‘Agroforestry Design Ideas’. Grants available from 2024 and further advice will be found under ‘Support’ – ‘Grants Guidance’.

Approved growers and suppliers of trees for agroforestry which adhere to the Plant Health Management Standard, will be found through Plant Healthy and Woodland Trust. These accredited growers, and many other growers awaiting their inspections are using up-to-date biosecurity measures for preventing the spread of plants and tree diseases in the UK and British Isles. We will add accredited tree nurseries contacts soon, under ‘Support’