AN innovative example of agroforestry using pigs to help grow a forest won David Carruth the Scottish Woodlands Farm Woodland – Young People Trophy at the 2023 Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards.

David, from Brodoclea Woodland Farm, near Dalry, in North Ayrshire, which is owned and managed by the Future Forest Company, works with a herd of 163 Mangalitza pigs. 

The pigs manage the forest by grazing down the dominant species on the forest floor, allowing other species of plants and young trees to thrive. 

To maximise their effectiveness in this role, David uses a system of adaptive ‘mob’ grazing, keeping the pigs in large groups and grazing them through twenty separate 25-acre forest paddocks.

David said: “Pigs are just brilliant for the woodland, they are the ultimate ecosystem engineers. It makes your wood more resilient in a changing world.

“I grew up in dairy farming and it was always said that farming was difficult. I am studying environmental science and have found a way back into farming.” 

David’s early years were spent on two family dairy farms in Renfrewshire. It was his grandfather’s love of nature that led him to volunteering in conservation and habitat creation across the world; from Norway to Canada, Tanzania to the Peruvian Amazon.

This work, and his ongoing degree in environmental science, have allowed David a better understanding of how the global climate and ecological crisis translates down to a local level.

Forestry Journal: Brodoclea Woodland Farm near Dalry unites pigs and forestry.Brodoclea Woodland Farm near Dalry unites pigs and forestry. (Image: Supplied)

Now, with the Future Forest Company at Brodoclea, he has returned to the hills and glens where he grew up.

He hopes more young people can enter farming and that his accolade from Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards 2023 will be an inspiration. He said: “When you get young people on the land with creative ideas you can solve a lot of the problems of our time.

“Winning at the Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards has helped get me known, boosted my confidence to do more and hopefully made some young folk think about going into agroforestry.”