Trees are part of the solution. They are amazing carbon capture and storage machines that absorb atmospheric carbon, locking it up for centuries. They are also hosts to a wide variety of plants, lichens and mosses and provide home and shelter for many species of wildlife. However, Wales is one of Europe's least wooded countries, with woodland providing only 14.8% of land cover compared to an EU average of 38%.

Recently, there has been an increasing focus on food security and pressure for more domestic food production. There is also a need to balance the demand to grow nutritious food while at the same time ensuring the environment remains healthy. Many farmers, such as those in the Nature-Friendly Farming Network, can see that there are significant benefits to farming with nature. They are eager to learn and adopt farming practices that address the environmental risks they face, such as the climate crisis. Such risks can directly impact their businesses. Trees play an important role in balancing food, business, and the environment.

Planting trees and farming need not be viewed as competing land uses but complementary ones. Over the coming decades, we are likely to experience more hot, dry summers and wetter winters. Farms already need to adapt to our changing climate.

Woodland in the right place slows the flow of water and reduces flood peaks. Upland woodland can increase storage capacity by capturing more rainwater than grassland, and floodplain woodland can temporarily store floodwater, reducing the risk of flooding downstream.

Even small areas of strategic tree planting can bring huge benefits. Located along rivers, trees can reduce pollutant losses to water by reducing sediment, nutrients, and pesticides. Tree shelter belts also reduce soil blow and can capture ammonia from slurry stores and livestock housing. Growing trees for timber, wood fuel, and fruit crops, including nuts, is also a direct benefit.

More trees in the landscape will help slow the flow of excess water and will provide shelter to livestock in hot weather. They can also create buffers on farm boundaries for valuable biosecurity. These benefits and reducing soil and nutrient losses can directly benefit the farm businesses. Also, they have the wider benefits of creating new habitats for wildlife, which all create an amazing landscape for tourists and communities alike.

Many farmers are already making changes. But to do this at the needed scale and pace, all farmers have to play their part.

The new farm subsidy scheme known as the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) presents a great opportunity for farmers to adapt to our changing climate by planting trees to form a shelter for livestock, switching to herb-rich grasses less prone to drought, and storing water in ponds on farms.

The 10% tree planting target included in the SFS proposals is designed to spread planting across the farm, and most farms already have, on average, 6% tree cover. This target is based on Wales's need to store more carbon. The Welsh Government's ambition is to plant 43,000 hectares of new woodland by 2030 and 180,000 hectares by 2050 to help Wales meet its carbon emission reduction targets.

Tree planting is not the single solution to adapting to climate change; however, planting more trees as part of a holistic approach can help mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate change, which is likely to increase in severity.

A growing number of farmers see nature as central to their farming practice and are adopting more sustainable approaches to producing food. They show that farming can be part of the solution to the nature and climate crises and that bringing nature back into farmed systems is vital to underpin prosperous and resilient farming businesses.