Trees, food, and future forests: How research at the University of Nottingham is shaping UK reforestation

Forests are essential to biodiversity, food security, and the fight against climate change. As we celebrate International Day of Forests, this year’s theme, "Forests and Foods," emphasises the dual role trees play in providing both environmental sustainability and nourishment.

Alison takes a pragmatic approach in this article, introducing two key research projects at the University of Nottingham: one focused on propagating oak trees from cuttings to improve reforestation efforts, and another using plant priming to enhance the survival of young trees. These ground-breaking innovations are advancing propagation techniques and boosting the resilience of trees, helping ensure a more sustainable future for UK forests.

The essential role of trees in our environment

As spring begins, signs of new life are emerging. Our native trees, such as oak, silver birch, and blackthorn, are bursting into leaf, while blossoms add vibrant splashes of colour to blackthorn, plum, and cherry trees.

These trees are not only beautiful but also vital in our urban environments. They play a key role in improving air quality, providing shade to cool the air, and enhancing overall wellbeing—often becoming central to communities across the UK. In addition to these benefits, forests and woodlands contribute significantly to the environment. They store carbon (up to 22kg per year), help protect against flooding, provide sustainable timber, and offer vital habitats for wildlife.

Forests as a source of food and community well-being

Beyond providing habitat and food for numerous species, forests also offer food. UK orchards produce cherries, plums, apples, pears, and walnuts, while wild foraging in woodlands and hedgerows yields elderflower, hazelnuts, sloes, and damsons. Earlier this year, the Faculty of Public Health published a paper titled “Influencing healthier and more sustainable dietary behaviours through planting and harvesting food-producing trees and hedges in the UK”, arguing for increased integration of food-producing trees within our local communities. These trees not only support biodiversity and the wildlife that relies on them, but they also create communal spaces, enhance local food security, and contribute to healthier diets.

Community orchards are popping up across the country, including in Derby, Leicester, and Nottingham, with locations like the Community Orchard in Wilford and St Ann’s, and the Incredible Edible orchard in Chilwell. Here, people can pick their own fruit and nuts for free and actively participate in the upkeep of these orchards. This demonstrates how food-producing trees can strengthen both our ecosystems and communities, offering sustainable, local sources of nourishment while fostering a deeper connection to the environment. 

Expanding the UK’s forests: challenges and solutions

In the UK forests make up 13.26% of land in 2022 (Statista; Salas EB, 2025), however it has less tree cover than almost anywhere else in Europe. To address this, the UK government has committed £400 million in England for tree planting and peatland restoration, aiming to increase coverage to 16.5%.

In Nottinghamshire 250,00 trees have been planted in the last 3 years, but there is still much more to be done. At the University of Nottingham, our research supports these efforts by exploring technology to enhance tree propagation from cuttings, which can help speed up the production of trees. Additionally, we are investigating how plant priming techniques can improve the survival rate of young trees, making reforestation efforts more successful in the long term.

How Nottingham research is supporting reforestation 

Case study one: making new trees from old

Dr. Amanda Rasmussen, Associate Professor in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, alongside Dr. Jonathan Vilasboa, a Research Fellow in Environmental Science within, is leading an innovative project investigating the propagation of broadleaved tree species by cuttings, through a Forestry Commission-funded project.

The project focuses on the two oak species native to the UK, which only produce viable seeds every couple of years, and these seeds do not germinate if stored for long periods of time. Therefore, cutting can be used as another way to grow new trees, especially in the years where no oak seeds are produced. However, not all cuttings root well and produce new trees.

New protocols are being developed by this group for those cuttings, such as oak, which do not produce roots under traditional methods. The group is also screening a panel of other UK woody species, including beech, alder, maple, dogwood, and working with parallel research on ash propagation at NIAB East Malling, to help the UK meet its tree planting targets.

As part of our ongoing efforts to support forest preservation, researchers at the University of Nottingham , are exploring innovative methods to address two key challenges in reforestation. So far, we are seeing tremendous progress from these projects, and we hope to build on this progress in the coming months.

Case study two: improving sapling survival using plant priming to improve stress resilience

 Dr. Alison Tidy's own research, in collaboration with Alice Jones, Senior Food Innovation Advisor, Faculty of Science, is advancing knowledge of plant priming into tree species using funding from the Forestry Commission. Her pioneering work takes technologies typically used in crops and applies them for the first time to tree cuttings, seeds and seedlings. The goal is for plant priming to offer trees the same climate resilience it provides other plant species, improving their tolerance to heat and drought stress.

Many tree varieties are negatively affected by abiotic stress especially in the establishment phase—the first two years after planting—when heat and drought can have a significant impact, especially in urban areas. In the UK, nearly one in three new trees planted in urban environments die within the first year, with losses sometimes reaching 50%. A recent Urban Tree Establishment project (2024) reported a 53% loss. As a result, research is underway to improve survival rates using various techniques, including planting methods, mycorrhizal communities, and plant priming.

Using elder as a model tree species, Alison’s research has demonstrated a 25% increase in cutting survival during the first six months of planting, using β-amino butyric acid (BABA) as a plant priming agent. Her experiments show that BABA allows elder trees to continue photosynthesizing at higher temperatures and perform better under drought conditions, improving the resilience of these young trees. Dr. Tidy hopes to translate this work to other tree species, helping to increase survival rates across the UK.

As we face the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, the importance of trees in supporting ecosystems, food security, and our climate cannot be overstated. The research at the University of Nottingham, from innovative propagation techniques to enhancing tree resilience, is a vital step toward ensuring that our forests thrive for future generations. It is through such collaborative efforts, grounded in science and innovation, that we can hope to build a more sustainable and resilient future for UK forests and the communities that depend on them.

References

1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/436026/forest-area-as-percentage-of-land-area-uk/#:~:text=The%20share%20of%20forest%20land,points%20in%20comparison%20to%202009.
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-treeplantingtaskforce-to-oversee-planting-of-millions-of-trees-across-our-four-nations#:~:text=The%20announcement%20today%20comes%20after,to%20protect%20and%20restore%20nature.
3. Mitchell, R.J.; Bellamy, P.E.; Ellis, C.J.; Hewison, R.L.; Hodgetts, N.G.; Iason, G.R.; Littlewood, N.A.; Newey, S.; Stockan, J.A.; Taylor, A.F.S. (2019). Oak-associated biodiversity in the UK (OakEcol). NERC Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/22b3d41e-7c35-4c51-9e55-0f47bb845202
4. https://treecouncil.org.uk/urban-trials-using-adapted-japanese-tree-planting-method-deliver-higher-survival-and-lower-costs-per-tree/#:~:text=Across%20all%20the%2016%20trials,for%20the%20standard%20planting%20methods.
5. https://www.treetalk.eco/story/how-treetalk-can-help-improve-survival-rates-for-newly-planted-trees
6. https://www.carbongold.com/carbon-gold-highlights-urban-tree-survival-rates/