Pioneering project to improve the effectiveness of reforestation

Published 21 March 2024

Today, on International Day of Forests, we are proud to announce a new partnership with British climate tech catalyst A Healthier Earth. Our joint project will use innovative farming methods to help address the effects of climate change.

The partnership brings together the best of British climate tech innovation, AgTech innovation, and forestry and estate management. It aims to improve plants’ speed, effectiveness and survival rate, and to help mitigate climate change-related land and forestry challenges affecting the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Factors including a European shortage of available seeds and tree-stock, changing climate, changing soil conditions and low seedling survival rates are negatively impacting reforestation efforts at historical estates, including ours. A Healthier Earth’s ForestFactory concept tackles these issues, using synthetic biology to deploy geo-specific and genetically diverse forests that sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

ForestFactory is made up of three core elements that will increase the effectiveness and speed of reforestation projects on our Estate:

Micro-propagation: using source material, such as buds and twigs, native to local ancient woodland to create genetically relevant plant stock, negating the requirement to grow from seeds.
Autonomous Vertical Farming Systems: growing local seedlings and saplings in vertically-stacked layers in a controlled, autonomous environment, monitored and operated by smart software solutions, to create beneficial characteristics that aid survivability and health.
Biochar: applying circular biochar to soil before trees are planted, improving water retention and fertility, and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere for over 500 years.

For the last three years, A Healthier Earth has been working on a research and development pilot project to experiment with the ForestFactory concept. They have also recently been operating out of our Walled Garden. There they were able to test environmental factors such as light and nutrient conditions in a controlled environment, to grow more resilient trees in a shorter timeframe.

Scaling learnings from this pilot project, we aim to plant 600,000 trees over the next three years across our Estate, using only trees local to the Estate.

A Healthier Earth will work with vertical farming technology, data, and manufacturing specialists Vertical Future. They will first grow a target of 50,400 saplings in a trial phase. This is with a view to jointly developing a large-scale facility, capable of producing a minimum of one million saplings per year at full-scale.

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A man in a black polo shirt examines a young oak sapling growing in a nursery bed

Alastair Collier, Chief R&D Officer at A Healthier Earth said:

The effects of climate change on our trees, soil and sapling survival rates mean we urgently need to amend our forestry practices to meet our national reforestation targets. ForestFactory will use a geo-specific and multi-disciplinary approach to support the growth of the country’s most beautiful and biologically diverse forests, starting at Blenheim Estate.

Rows of young oak saplings with bright green leaves growing in a polytunnel

Mr Collier continued:

"Our team of leading researchers and scientists have developed ForestFactory into a scalable climate solution that has the potential directly fight the effects of the climate crisis on our forests. This new partnership with Blenheim Estate is a milestone moment for us as we look to scale our solutions that solve the most urgent regional and global sustainability challenges.”

Three men in black work among rows of white tree guards on newly planted oak saplings in a field

Roy Cox, Managing Director from Blenheim Estate said:

At a very basic level, we know getting more trees back into the ground is a vital weapon in this climate emergency fight. But today there simply are not enough trees being grown. Those that are grown are sometimes not right for the areas they are planted in, or, with such volatile weather patterns, are just not surviving those early years.

A man kneeling in a field plants a young oak sapling with golden-green leaves

Mr Cox continued:

“What we aim to do with the ForestFactory is create a truly scalable and economically viable model for tree production, using offspring from local plant stock, grown throughout the year and planted out in a more resilient way to capture carbon year-on-year for many generations. This project will not only help Blenheim’s pledge to become carbon neutral by 2027, but also others wanting to make a meaningful impact in the fight against climate change.”