Integrating ecosystem services from trees and forests into agriculture in OECD countries

Integrating trees into agricultural landscapes can enhance farm resilience, support biodiversity, and contribute to long-term environmental performance. Policies increasingly promote tree planting and related forest management on agricultural land. These measures range from small-scale support for on-farm tree management to programmes enabling large-scale forestry plantations. Policies that support large-scale tree planting and target carbon sequestration offer the highest average payment rates, at around USD 1 800 per hectare (excluding outliers). In contrast, policies that target additional environmental benefits within agricultural production, mainly to support incremental changes, tend to offer lower average payment rates, at approximately USD 235 per hectare per year (excluding outliers). To enhance the design, implementation, and overall effectiveness of tree planting and related forest management policies, decision makers should reduce key barriers by aligning socio-economic incentives, supporting practices tailored to local environmental conditions, accounting for permanence risks for carbon offsets, and ensuring the availability of suitable seedlings.