NFU Jubilee diamonds pay tribute to Queen

The NFU is encouraging its members to plant diamond-shaped plantations of native hardwood trees on their land as a living, lasting, landscape-enriching tribute to Her Majesty The Queen on her Diamond Jubilee.

NFU President Peter Kendall, who will be planting a Jubilee Diamond on his family farm in Eyeworth, Bedfordshire, said The Queen had been a stalwart champion of farming throughout her 60 years on the throne.

’We in the farming community therefore have special reason for wanting to mark and to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee,’ he added.

’Knowing The Queen’s love for the countryside, and wanting to do something which would be both a lasting signal of our gratitude and a lasting enhancement to the landscape, we decided to encourage our members to plant small, diamond-shaped plantations of native hardwood trees.

’Even if our diamonds won’t quite be forever, they should certainly be there for many years, possibly even centuries, to come.

’I am delighted that the Woodland Trust is supporting our initiative, offering help and support as part of its Jubilee Woods project which aims to plant six million new native trees across the UK. I would encourage NFU members to record their trees in the Trust’s Royal Record of Jubilee trees, which will be presented to The Queen in 2013.

’We are asking all of our members to consider planting a Jubilee Diamond, either in this planting season (before mid-March) or next autumn, to mark this historic Jubilee year.’