Shropshire farm registers with Woodland Carbon Code
You know those awkward field corners that never quite earn their keep? At Hilley Farm in Shropshire, farmer Mandy Stoker Jones has turned those pockets into trees-creating a new 4‑hectare woodland, adding planting where cropping or grazing struggled, and blending trees with pasture. The Forestry Commission published the case study on 28 November 2025, and the project is registered with the Woodland Carbon Code.
Why start with the “margins”? Because marginal land is often wet, steep or stony, and expensive to manage for relatively low return. Planting trees there can improve soil stability, slow runoff and give animals shelter without displacing your best fields. That’s exactly the design lesson from Hilley Farm: fit trees to the land’s limits, not the other way round, then let the rest of the farm benefit.
What it means: agroforestry is simply farming with trees. Forest Research explains it as trees in fields with livestock (silvopasture), trees with crops (silvoarable), and trees between fields like hedgerows or shelterbelts. In the UK, agroforestry currently covers about 3.3% of agricultural land, compared with a European average of 8.8%, which is why examples like Hilley Farm make useful case studies for students and new entrants.
Why the cattle benefit: shade and shelter reduce stress. UK guidance notes that heat can cut dairy yields when temperatures rise, but shade from trees can reduce solar radiation by around half and lower skin temperature by several degrees; in winter, shelter belts help animals conserve energy instead of burning it to keep warm. That’s animal welfare and productivity pulling in the same direction.
Trees do more than protect stock. Young woodland and well‑managed hedgerows offer blossom, seeds and structure for insects, birds and small mammals, and they link up habitats across a farm. Natural England and the Forestry Commission also stress designing for resilience-mixing species and provenances so trees can cope with pests, disease and a changing climate.
What it means: the Woodland Carbon Code is the UK’s quality standard for woodland carbon projects. Registration tells buyers and the public that a project is designed and checked to remove carbon responsibly, that it appears on a public registry, and that independent auditors will verify delivery over time. It’s backed by government and delivered by Scottish Forestry.
A quick update for your notes: Version 3.0 of the Woodland Carbon Code launched on 1 August 2025. It sets clearer rules on eligibility, governance, how sequestration is modelled, and the environmental and social safeguards projects must meet. If you’re reading older guidance, check which version it refers to.
Carbon literacy checkpoint: Woodland Carbon Code projects issue two types of units. Pending Issuance Units are promises for future removal; Woodland Carbon Units are verified tonnes that have already been removed. Units are UK‑based, can’t be used for international aviation or shipping, and aren’t valid in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme-so buyers still need to cut their own emissions first.
Design details you can spot on a walk: shelterbelts placed across prevailing winds, tree lines guiding livestock towards dry gateways, and pocket plantings around wet hollows where machinery bogs down. Microclimate effects from shelter can extend well beyond the tree line, while resilience planning means mixing species rather than relying on a single “hero” tree.
For soils and water, trees help in quiet but important ways. Roots stitch together fragile slopes, can slow flood peaks when planted in the right place, and reduce wind speeds across open fields. On hot days, shade and lower wind can also reduce evapotranspiration, helping pasture and crops hold on to moisture for longer.
Money and timing matter. Carbon income usually arrives gradually as projects move from promises to verified removals, and timber or woodfuel returns are much longer‑term. Many farms start, as Hilley Farm did, with the least productive ground and grow confidence from there-using the Code to show their plan is credible and being checked.
What we can learn: Hilley Farm shows how a small, well‑placed 4‑hectare woodland and on‑farm tree planting can lift animal welfare, build biodiversity and lock away carbon without taking prime land out of production. UK uptake of agroforestry still trails Europe, but examples like this help us teach the concepts clearly-and give you a model to adapt on your own patch.