It hopes to provide evidence that mixing fruit trees and arable crops works for nature and farmers.

More than 1,000 apple, cobnut and broadleaf trees have been planted on an RSPB farm to discover whether agroforestry could be a “useful tool for farmers”.

The trees were planted on an 11 hectare (27 acre) site at the charity’s arable farm, between Papworth Everard and Cambridge, in 2022.

The long-term project will be monitored for biodiversity, greenhouse gas fluxes and business viability, said assistant farm manager, Sophie Arnold.

She said not enough was known about what an agroforest does or does not deliver in terms of “trade-offs and benefits” within the UK’s farming system.