Op-Ed | “Non-Productive Trees” – Still A Bizarre Concept

Wicklow mountains, Ireland. Photo: Canva

With Europe’s forests under more pressure than ever to remove carbon and provide all manner of ecosystem services, is there such a thing as a non-productive tree? And what exactly is a high diversity landscape feature? In the view of the European Agroforestry Federation, the European Commission should use more precise terminology, notably in the Nature Restoration Regulation. Op-ed by Gerry Lawson.

In an op-ed for ARC2020 in June 2023 I noted that the bizarre concept of “non-productive trees” first appeared in the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, in the context of “space for nature”.

“To provide space for wild animals, plants, pollinators and natural pest regulators, there is an urgent need to bring back at least 10% of agricultural area under high-diversity landscape features. These include, inter alia, buffer strips, rotational or non-rotational fallow land, hedges, non-productive trees, terrace walls, and ponds”.

Till now, no-one really understood what the term “non-productive” meant, but Guidance from DG ENV (C/2025/980 14.2.25) has shed 20 pages of light on the issue and what the difference is between “High Diversity Landscape Features” and the ordinary “Landscape Features” which have been known to us for 20 years: i.e. since the term was first introduced as a mandatory standard for Cross Compliance in Council Regulation (EC) No 864/2004.

Annex IV of the Nature Restoration Regulation (2024/1991) [see excerpt below] clarified that the term “High Diversity Landscape Features”, as far as DG ENV is concerned, also includes fallow land. In CAP legislation, fallow land had always been regarded as a “non productive area” rather than a “landscape feature”. According to the NRR Annex, “productive trees” can be considered part of “High Diversity Landscape Features” if they are part of “(i) sustainable agroforestry systems; (ii) extensive old orchards on permanent grassland; and (iii) productive elements in hedges. The new Guidance goes into detail about what these terms mean.

The Guidance confirms that “High Diversity Landscape Features”: a) cannot be under productive agricultural use (including grazing or fodder production), unless such use is necessary for the preservation of biodiversity; and b) should not receive fertiliser or pesticide treatment, except for low input treatment with solid manure.

A derogation is allowed for productive trees in sustainable agroforestry systems” but the Guidance had first to define what is an “agroforestry system” and then what is a “sustainable agroforestry system”.

The Guidance notes that all Member States (MS) have definitions of agroforestry in their CAP Strategic Plans. However it fails to mention that most of these are difficult to quantify since they are based on minimum and/or maximum numbers of trees/ha, without clarification of whether “tree” means a seedling or a mature specimen. The definitions are reviewed in EURAF Policy Briefing #22, which notes a very diverse approach.

The Guidance suggests that MS could use the FAO thresholds of 5% crown-cover (“other wooded land”) and 10% (“forest”) to set the minimum agroforestry threshold on agricultural land. Member States are advised to use the following steps:

Use national maps of agroforestry, providing these are of significant quality. Perhaps by delineating LPIS agricultural areas and “distinguishing between arable land, permanent grassland and permanent crops to identify agroforestry systems”. MS are given the choice over which the tree cover density threshold to use. Alternatively MS are allowed to use EUNIS/CORINE habitat types (e.g. Class 2.2.4), or even to revert to LUCAS data to derive a “probability of occurrence of agroforestry”.
Once areas of agroforestry have been identified MS are expected to define areas of “sustainable agroforestry systems” according to the “biogeographical specificities in the Member State or a region thereof and by specific type of agroforestry”. It is suggested that MS could define minimum and maximum stocking tree densities and the type of management which should be applied.
Member States are advised to use two criteria to determine sustainability: a) design of the agroforestry system in terms of species composition etc), b) management practices.
Areas which receive pesticide and fertiliser treatment would not be “sustainable” – except a low input of solid manure (with 30-50 kg N per ha per year suggested). Farmers would be expected to make declarations as part of their IACS or State Aid claims, verified with on the spot surveys and interviews, or by checking the biodiversity value of the landscape features (e.g. by using LUCAS/EMBAL).
Estimating the productive tree covered area (given that only the productive trees count as landscape features and not the entire parcel), using orthophotos, Copernicus tree-cover density, field surveys, satellite images, or agroforestry management plans.

Lengthy instructions are also given to explain the meaning of “productive trees in extensive old orchards in permanent grassland” and “productive elements in hedges”.

Conclusion

DG ENV has produced 20 complicated pages of Guidance which will do nothing to encourage the planting or conservation of trees outside the forest.

The Guidance would have been unnecessary had it been made clear that all trees are potentially productive. Trees produce timber, fuelwood, fruits, bark, biochar, carbon/sequestration as well as environmental services.

The pressure on European forests to meet carbon removal and bioeconomy needs are so grave that we must be allowed to use silvicultural techniques like lower-branch and improvement pruning with Trees outside Forests to develop quality timber. Trees cannot simply be allowed to take any shape they like. They need to work for landowners and tenants.

We therefore recommend that the “Rural Simplification Omnibus”, planned for Q4 of 2025 removes from the NRR the adjective “non-productive” in relation to landscape feature trees.

Q4 simplification should also clarify that “High Diversity Landscape Features” are the same as the ordinary “Landscape Features” which have been monitored in the CAP Regulations for the past 20 years, with the modification that pesticides are not permitted – thus harmonising the DG AGRI and DG ENV definitions.

Gerry Lawson is Policy Analyst for the European Agroforestry Federation (EURAF). EURAF has a mission of achieving 10% tree cover on agricultural land by 2040.