A new guide has been launched today designed to help farmers and landowners to understand and address ash dieback.
Sustainable farming organisation LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) has produced a practical manual with expert guidance.
The Farmer’s Guide to Ash Dieback outlines six steps to help farmers and landowners identify, assess and manage ash dieback.
The free resource includes sections on identifying and assessing ash dieback, as well as protecting and restoring trees on-farm.
It also looks at wider health and safety issues, legal obligations around felling, ways to reduce the costs involved in managing ash dieback.
Ash dieback is present across the UK and is a pressing problem for an increasing number of farmers and landowners.
Speaking on the launch of the guide, Defra Biosecurity Minister, Lord Benyon said it would support farmers to be proactive in the management of their ash trees and the risks associated with this disease.
"But also in helping to ensure that healthy ash trees remain as a precious and much-loved feature of our landscapes," he said.
Project lead Eleanor Marks, who is technical officer at LEAF, explained how the new guide could benefit farmers and the wider industry.
"After hosting a programme of farmer workshops, it was clear there was a real need to raise awareness around the implications of ash dieback and crucially, to provide farmers with support and guidance on how to manage it.”
“The feedback from farmers was that a practical, easily accessible guidance book, backed up with a series of explanatory videos, would offer an effective way to help them tackle this devastating disease and protect or restore trees on farm.
“We are delighted to have developed this practical resource to enable farmers and landowners to make informed decisions."
The free guide set out to understand farmers’ knowledge of tree health and how best to improve it.
The guide addresses the needs and expertise of both farmers, tree health experts and land managers.
It was developed as part of the Knowledge to Action Project, a Defra funded research programme involving LEAF, Forest Research and the University of Exeter.
