Futures Forum: The role of trees and sheep in managing flood risk
Futures Forum: Hedges as fodder: or 'tree hay'
And we are doing something about it:
Futures Forum: Devonshire hedgerows: Increasing the value of hedges for wildlife with relaxed cutting regimes
Futures Forum: Sidmouth Arboretum: how to protect trees and woodland
The Woodland Trust put together a study a couple of years ago:
HEDGEROWSANDHEDGEROWTREES - Woodland Trust - 2014
Woodland Trust Initiative | Saving 280m UK Trees | Hayes GM
Here's a new study just out looking at the issues:
The benefits of hedgerows and trees for agriculture
By William Stiles, IBERS, Aberystwyth University
Woodland patches and hedgerows are essential components of the agri-ecosystem. The resource of trees and hedgerows on farms has declined in the UK in the twentieth century, due primarily to agricultural intensification which has driven the creation of larger more simplified field systems. This loss may reduce ecosystem service provision and biodiversity in both livestock and arable systems, and may also have a negative influence in certain terms on productivity.
The primary functions of hedges are for the purposes of stock management or to mark land boundaries. Hedgerows also represent a habitat resource which is particularly important for species within the agri-ecosystem, which would struggle to persist in managed field systems. As such, to protect this valuable resource, legislation was passed in 1997 which has successfully reduced hedgerow removal in England and Wales. The re-establishment or replacement of hedgerows and woodland patches on farms remains an area for development, yet has great potential to deliver multiple benefits in economic, ecological and environmental terms...
The benefits of hedgerows and trees for agriculture | Farming Connect
The benefits of hedgerows and trees for agriculture | Farming Futures