Photo (taken during the summer of 2022) of a hedge planted in early 2020 ©BNE Orne
Normandy, France, September 2022
In 2022, a third hedge planting campaign was completed in Normandy, thanks to the partnership between A Tree for You and Bois Négoce Énergie. Since 2020, nearly 24,000 hedge plants have been planted in farmers’ fields.
Despite the droughts and heat waves during the summer of 2022, the plants are doing well and the survival rate is around 95%! This result slightly exceeds the objectives set for the project, which is excellent news. The biodegradable film used as a mulch limits evaporation and so helps maintain soil moisture. Monitoring and maintaining the planted plots with the farmers is ongoing for the project – and more farmers are keen to join the initiative!
Plot planted in winter 2021/2022 by a farmer and the result 6 months later ©BNE Orne
Since the plantations tackle and meet many different issues and needs, all the hedges planted will rapidly benefit the surrounding landscape and biodiversity, as well as protecting water sources.
With regards to the climate, unfortunately a highly topical issue in this year of heatwaves and droughts, hedgerows, in their own way, offer significant benefits:
- Creating microclimates: planting of hedges around plots of crops or meadows helps to protect both fauna and flora during the increasingly frequent heatwaves. Indeed, a hedge planted around a crop plot will create a microclimate within. Hedgerows mitigate the negative impacts of extreme temperatures and strong winds. In the case of grasslands, hedgerows growing here will also serve as a ‘plant umbrellas’ to shelter animals.
- Preserving biodiversity: the plantations will provide shelter and food for a rich and diverse fauna, as well as an important support for the local flora. The planted hedges will help strengthen green belts and so make it easier for wildlife to move around the area.
- Carbon sequestering: the planted hedgerows will renew ageing woodland that is less and less effective in sequestering carbon. As they develop, and thanks photosynthesis, the young hedge plants will capture carbon (CO2) and release oxygen (O2).
The hedgerow is therefore multi-beneficial. The first three planting waves carried out by Bois Négoce Énergie and A Tree for You have proved a great success. Continuing this partnership over time is key to the long-term development of the Normandy region.
Hence a new planting phase will take place from autumn 2022 on, with new farmers, to introduce 10,000 woodland plants to Normandy, for the benefit of territories… and the climate.
