WHEN it comes to trees, there are few more knowledgeable than Caroline Taylor.

I first met Caroline, of Thorpe Trees, on a very wet Saturday at Tockwith Show just over two years ago. This was the day when the Farmers Markets were first launched in our part of the world and I had gone to the show out of curiosity to see what all the fuss was about.

Along with another half dozen or so similar-minded farmers from the Tockwith area Caroline was in the farmers market selling dried flowers and trees to a very interested Joe Public.

Since that day, farmers markets have become an established part of country life, and conservation coupled with tree planting is the modern day trend in farming. Today, as prices for most farm commodities continue to fall, many farmers are taking advantage of the new grant-aided tree planting schemes on offer and planting many acres of marginal land with trees.

Alastair Taylor and his daughter Caroline have changed their farming system at Thorpe Underwood and now grow from seed and sell over 1m trees each year to meet the demands for trees for these schemes.

Alastair Taylor began farming at Thorpe Underwood over 30 years ago and ran his farm on traditional lines for a number of years. In the early 1980s, falling prices and reducing margins made it obvious to him he would have to find a new way to increase the returns from his farm if he were to continue in business. In 1985, he planted half an acre of trees for a local nursery to see if tree growing was a viable option and from that small beginning Thorpe Trees was born.

Today, Alastair and Caroline provide a complete tree planting service for landowners all over the United Kingdom, beginning with an initial site evaluation visit to decide on the suitability of the new woodlands, right through to planting the trees and their subsequent maintenance until the critical establishment period is over.

The trees are grown in rotation with the other farm crops and, following the use of a soil sterilent, the seeds are sown with a precision drill after Barley with Wheat and Sugar Beet also being grown.

The straw from the cereals is swapped for farmyard manure in order to maintain the organic content of the soil. Irrigation is available from a borehole and water is applied with a rain gun as required. Caroline told me they use locally-produced seed in order to keep their plants disease free but trees, like all farm crops, have to be sprayed and treated with fungicides to ensure that they have healthy well grown stock for sale to their customers.

From their own nursery at Thorpe Underwood, they can provide around 50 different varieties of trees and around 30 kinds of hedging plants mostly grown from locally sourced seeds.

Most of these plants are sold at two years old as slips but the Taylors also grow a number of trees on to larger sizes to cater for those special situations when a more established tree is required.

These more mature trees make a quicker impact in places like golf courses and municipal gardens or playing fields. Whilst the vast majority of their business over the past 15 years has come from farmers or estate owners today the public sector market is becoming much more important.

In addition to this, a new market is growing amongst the new country dwellers. These are the people who buy a house with some land attached in the countryside and, having realised the impracticality of blending the "good life" with business life and family commitments, are turning to planting small areas of land with trees in an attempt to improve the environment. This is an ever-growing market.

Thorpe Trees produce a 20-page illustrated catalogue which lists over 50 varieties of trees as well as a large number of hedging plants and shrubs and all the modern day tree guards designed to limit rabbit and deer damage to young trees. A wide selection of fruit trees, woodland bulbs, wild flower seeds and seeds for game crops are also listed in their catalogue.

In addition to this, there is also a simple but very comprehensive leaflet which Caroline has produced, giving all the details of the latest grants for farm woodlands, complete with up to date payment rates as set by the Forestry Commission which is based at Crockey Hill near York.

Whilst Caroline will quite happily undertake free advisory visits to farms to explain the various schemes, she explained to me that the cash for the new planting schemes are cash limited and farmers who are considering planting new woodlands must have the prior approval of the Forestry Commission if they are to be eligible for a grant.

Like every other country-based business, Thorpe Trees has been very badly affected by foot and mouth disease with many farmers and landowners being unwilling to go ahead with planned tree planting schemes or advisory visits.

This is creating a backlog of work for both the Forestry Commission and tree nurseries alike all over the country. This is yet another area of the farming industry affected by the failure to control the disease in spite of forestry having very little connection with the livestock sector of the industry.

As more and more financial support for British agriculture is being channelled into environmental schemes designed to improve the scenery, it becomes very important the trees and hedgerow plants used for these schemes are produced in the United Kingdom rather than being imported. Here at Thorpe Trees, Caroline and Alastair Taylor are producing very high quality stock, which is grown from British seeds.

This is essential if we are to maintain the characteristics and features of traditional British woodlands and hedgerows.

Updated: 09:17 Thursday, September 27, 2001