Forestry, Trees & Hedgerows
Forestry & Woodland Creation
Plant it once, fund it four ways, and keep the felling licence in order.
Woodland creation is now one of the few land use changes with four simultaneous income streams — creation grant, maintenance payment, carbon units and biodiversity units — and four separate compliance regimes to match. This module carries site design, species selection, grant application, planting record, establishment monitoring, felling licence management and the long-term stocking record that every one of those income streams depends on.
- 12 capabilities
- 4 linked schemes
- Flagship module
- Offline capable
- 12
- Capabilities in this module
- 5
- Interactive tools
- 4
- Linked support schemes
- 6
- Data integrations
- 5
- Measures reported
The ground reality
What is actually happening in forestry & woodland in the UK
Statutory targets require tree canopy and woodland cover to rise by 0.33 per cent of land area by 2030, a net gain of roughly 43,000 hectares from a 14.9 per cent baseline. The Woodland Carbon Code has recorded 907 validated projects creating 45,467 hectares of new woodland, carrying around 14.17 million Pending Issuance Units but only about 12,700 verified Woodland Carbon Units, because most projects are too young to have sequestered measurable carbon. Average unit price rose to £28.32 in 2025 from £26.85 the previous year.
Figures are as published at the time of writing. Farm policy and payment rates change frequently — verify against the primary source before relying on any number here.
In the field
Forestry & woodland, as it actually looks
Photography from working UK holdings alongside the interface that records it. Every frame below is a commissioned slot: the brief is stated until the photograph is taken.
Forestry & Woodland — a walkthrough
A working pass through forestry & woodland: entering the record once, and watching it appear in the evidence pack, the calendar and the scheme application without being typed again.
- 0:00 What the module is for
- 0:48 Entering the record
- 2:05 Where it appears next
- 3:20 The evidence pack
Photography slots state their own brief until the shot is commissioned, so the layout never shifts when real images arrive.
Capabilities
What Forestry & Woodland does
Every capability below is built on the same underlying record, so entering something once is enough for it to appear wherever it is needed.
Record and plan
- Woodland creation design with species mix, spacing, provenance and zoning
- Site suitability assessment against soil, exposure, designation and deep peat exclusion
- Environmental Impact Assessment screening and consultation workflow
Operate and monitor
- Grant application assembly across the England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland offers
- Planting record by compartment with species, provenance, protection and date
- Establishment monitoring with beat-up requirement calculation
Comply and evidence
- Deer, squirrel and rabbit protection planning and damage recording
- Felling licence application, thinning plan and compliance tracking
- UK Forestry Standard compliance evidence assembly
Analyse and improve
- Woodland Carbon Code project registration, validation and verification tracking
- Timber inventory, growth modelling and yield class assessment
- Woodland management plan authoring and periodic review scheduling
Interactive
Tools you actually use, not screens you read
These are working interfaces inside the module — maps, calculators, planners and dashboards that respond to your own holding data.
Woodland creation design canvas with compartment drawing and species allocation
Woodland creation design canvas with compartment drawing and species allocation
ToolGrant stacking calculator showing creation, maintenance, carbon and biodiversity income together
Grant stacking calculator showing creation, maintenance, carbon and biodiversity income together
CalculatorCarbon sequestration projection by species mix and yield class over the project life
Carbon sequestration projection by species mix and yield class over the project life
ToolPending Issuance Unit versus verified unit position chart
Pending Issuance Unit versus verified unit position chart
ChartFelling licence eligibility and exemption checker
Felling licence eligibility and exemption checker
WizardEnd to end
How Forestry & Woodland runs, start to finish
The module is modelled as a state machine, so at any point the business knows exactly which stage every record is at and what has to happen next.
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1
Assess site suitability and constraints
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Design the woodland and select species
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Screen for EIA and consult
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Apply for creation funding
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Plant and record by compartment
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Protect, monitor and beat up
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Register and validate the carbon project
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
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8
Manage, thin and verify over the project life
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
Who uses it
Built around four real jobs, not one generic user
Each of these people needs something different from the same record. The module is designed so none of them has to work around the others.
Estate manager
900 ha estate with 200 ha woodland
Needs creation, carbon and BNG income assessed together before committing land.
Livestock farmer
Planting 12 ha of marginal ground
Needs to know the payment covers the lost grazing and the fencing.
Forestry agent
Multi-client woodland creation
Needs application assembly and monitoring across a portfolio.
Carbon buyer
Corporate offtake
Needs transparency on validated versus verified unit status.
Schemes and funding
Support schemes this module works with
Agrivencia holds these schemes as data, so eligibility, payment rates, caps and windows update the day they change rather than at the next software release.
Woodland Carbon Code
Provide a quality assurance standard for woodland creation projects generating verifiable carbon units.
Scottish Forestry on behalf of all four governments EnglandEngland Woodland Creation Offer
Fund the creation of new woodland, with additional payments for public benefits.
Forestry Commission EnglandCountryside Stewardship
Fund more complex, targeted and bespoke habitat management than the main incentive offer supports.
Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency ScotlandForestry Grant Scheme
Fund woodland creation, management and tree health work in Scotland.
Scottish ForestryRates, caps and windows change frequently and sometimes without notice. Always confirm against the current published scheme rules before applying.
Measurement
How you will know it is working
The module reports against these measures from the day it is switched on, so the value is demonstrable rather than assumed.
- 01Hectares created
- 02Establishment survival rate
- 03Carbon units validated and verified
- 04Grant income per hectare
- 05Woodland management plan currency
Try it now
Woodland Income Stacking Calculator
See creation grant, maintenance payment, carbon units and biodiversity units modelled together over the project life, against the agricultural margin you give up.
How this is calculated
Capital and maintenance are applied at published rates for the woodland type and area. Carbon income applies your assumed unit price to modelled sequestration for the species mix, discounted for the delay between planting and verification. Forgone margin is the current gross margin over the modelling period.
Carbon units are mostly pending rather than verified for many years after planting. Treat carbon income as deferred and uncertain, and note that woodland creation is generally irreversible.
Payment schedule
What is due, and when it lands
Farm support arrives in instalments from several bodies on different calendars. Set against your own overdraft, the question is not how much but when — so the ledger is ordered by date, not by scheme.
| When | Payment | From | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March | Woodland Carbon Code | Scottish Forestry on behalf of all four governments | — | Expected |
| September | England Woodland Creation Offer | Forestry Commission | — | Agreed |
| March | Countryside Stewardship | Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| October | Forestry Grant Scheme | Scottish Forestry | — | Eligible |
| June | Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| June | Environmental Land Management Capital Grants | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
- — Agreed and scheduled
- — Claimed, awaiting payment
- — Eligible, unclaimed
What the statuses mean
- Agreed
- Under a signed agreement with a scheduled payment date.
- Expected
- Claimed and assessed; payment date per the published standard.
- Eligible
- Your holding appears to qualify but nothing is claimed yet.
Obligation calendar
What forestry & woodland asks of you, and when
Windows, deadlines and recurring obligations for England. Set a different nation and the calendar reconfigures; farm across a border and it shows both, reconciled.
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February 1 entry
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27 February: Apply for creation funding
A recurring step in forestry & woodland.
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March 2 entries
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18 March: Woodland Carbon Code
Rolling registration.
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22 March: Assess site suitability and constraints
A recurring step in forestry & woodland.
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June 3 entries
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5 June: Farming Transformation Fund
Round-based by theme.
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11 June: Design the woodland and select species
A recurring step in forestry & woodland.
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15 June: Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026
Two windows in 2026: window one from 30 June, window two from September.
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July 2 entries
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14 July: Slurry Infrastructure Grant
Round-based.
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19 July: Forestry Grant Scheme
Rolling application.
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October 3 entries
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3 October: England Woodland Creation Offer
Rolling application.
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5 October: Farming Equipment and Technology Fund
Round-based, usually open for a defined application period.
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26 October: Screen for EIA and consult
A recurring step in forestry & woodland.
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November 2 entries
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12 November: Improving Farm Productivity Grant
Round-based.
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27 November: Environmental Land Management Capital Grants
Round-based, with rapid allocation once open.
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December 1 entry
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26 December: Countryside Stewardship
Rolling and round-based depending on the tier and option group.
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Questions answered
What people ask about Forestry & Woodland
Does this replace the software I already use?
Not necessarily. Agrivencia integrates with authoritative sources and mainstream packages rather than insisting on replacing them. Where an incumbent does one job well, the platform connects to it; where the job spans several systems and nobody does it, the platform does it.
Will it work where I have no signal?
Yes. Field capture in Forestry & Woodland is offline first, storing locally and synchronising when a connection returns. Only around a fifth of UK farms report reliable signal across the whole holding, so this is a design assumption rather than a feature.
What happens when the scheme rules change?
Scheme rules are held as data rather than code, so a rate change, a cap change or a window closure is a content update that takes effect the same day. The platform also alerts you to what the change does to your own position.
Who owns the data I put in?
You do. The Farm Data Charter gives you a complete export in open formats at any time, and every instance of data sharing requires an explicit, revocable consent that is visible in your account.
Does it work if I farm across a border?
Yes, and that is one of the main reasons the platform exists. A business with land in more than one nation sees one reconciled view rather than two portals, with obligations and deadlines from both administrations in a single calendar.
Can my agronomist or land agent use it too?
Yes. You grant scoped, time-limited access per holding and per module, and you can revoke it in one click. Advisers never get a shared password or a blanket view.
What is the biggest limitation of this module?
Deep peat and designation exclusions. Mitigated by pre-application constraint screening. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
Documents
Take it away with you
Everything here is printable and works on a kitchen table with no signal. Where a document asks for an email address, it says so on the button rather than after you press it.
Four Income Streams From One Planting: The UK Woodland Creation Handbook
The practical handbook for forestry & woodland: what the rules require, what the evidence has to show, and the mistakes that cost people money.
forestry & woodland — evidence checklist
Every document an audit or a claim asks for, in the order it is asked for, with the validity period of each.
forestry & woodland — record template
The record structure the module uses, as a spreadsheet, so a business not yet on the platform can start keeping it correctly today.
Data model reference
Entities, fields and integration points for forestry & woodland, for advisers and software partners.
See Forestry & Woodland running on your own holding
Thirty minutes, using your parcels, your schemes and your enterprises rather than a sample farm. No obligation and no sales script — if it does not fit your business we will say so.
- Free tier available
- No card required
- Your data stays yours