Any suggestions for a professional who can help with dealing with the mairie to apply for permission to grow trees. My notary checked and was informed it would be worthwhile to get permission from the mairie before starting to plant trees. It would be ok if I don’t get permission but I just want to be on the safe side.
I’m not sure you need a professional… just go along with your ideas and ask at the Mairie… in the first instance.
It’s always a very good idea to discuss ideas/plans with your local Mairie…
depending on the scale of your project, they might like you to also discuss with the Regional Environment/Forests/whatever. (I forget the name).
I do know that any tree(s) must be planted a certain distance away from boundaries (differing according to its type)… and there are other regulations as well… but it’s not difficult.
give it a whirl… 
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Is there something special about the trees? Type /size / number? Or the land / neighbours? Why do you think you need a professional?
We bought a field from our farming neighbour and I popped into the mairie and said I wanted to plant trees in the field. Everyone smiled and said go for it. To date we’ve planted about a hundred mixed deciduous and evergreen.
@Stella got there first. 
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Like I want to create an orchard on 100 odd hectares and there are afforestation directives in my area. My French is OK, but not great while discussing things which might get technical.
I would have done so if my French conversation skills were a bit better. And I don’t want to antagonize anyone with incorrect use of words.
That’s serious business! In fact is it a business?
frankly, a sketched plan of the land and what you propose… (x marks each “tree” or group)
list of varieties and numbers of each…
You can do it with a little help from the various online translation tools.
Just get yourself prepared, take a deep breath and… go for it.
You won’t antagonise anyone by trying to speak French, quite the opposite.
After the initial contact, the Mairie might well call on one of their local “english speakers” to help… happens a lot in our commune 
but, whatever, you taking the first step, with courage, no matter how basic your French skills… that will gain you brownie points in their estimation of you
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Not a business but my retirement plans. 100 hectare is the total land area, not sure I will be able to plant that much but just to be safe.
Sorry, can’t help with planning permission for trees (not sure it’s needed), but when I lived in the Creuse (23), a french "acquaintance "planted up a few hectares of land ( nowhere near 100) with mixed deciduous. He got a company in to plant them and they guaranteed them for a few years after, so if any died they would be replaced. Might be worth looking into, 100 ha is an awful lot of trees.
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And may look like a business so perhaps @BruceWayne does need professional advice.
@BruceWayne what are you planning to do with that size of orchard? Just let the fruit rot on the ground? Sell the fruit? Make juice and sell that? When you say “retirement plans” that sound like you’re expecting to earn an income from it.
OK, my reaction to 100 hectares… is that @BruceWayne needs to visit his Mairie… identify the plots which make up this 100 hectares… and ask if any of them have restrictions of any sort which might negate his dreams for tree planting.
100 hectares will probably be in the next 20 years or so. I don’t have that kind of $$ to do that in one go. Walnuts. Yes retirement income.
Yes they do have afforestation restrictions hence the need to get permission. They mentioned for fruits it would be fine but mentioned just to be safe just apply for permission.
Don’t forget a few Bat boxes
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And bee hotels, I have seen them on House of Games and would really like one. 
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Yes, if the plan is that these walnuts would be a commercial proposition you may well need to check land permissions and other regulations. What is the current status of the land? Agricultural or forestry? What about water?
You don’t say where you are, but you are aware that there is a necrotising bacteria devastating nut farms in many areas of France?
You need to go see your chambre d’agriculture. This is an example of the services offered in the Lot
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Sounds like an amazing project.
Do they have agricultural advisors in France, similar to the UK? Not sure.
100 hectares (eventually) of walnuts sounds like a HUGE commercial operation. That’s the equivalent of one kilometre square! You may be able to access some EU funding for your project.
A quick ‘google’ says you can plant about 280 trees per hectare (that would be 28,000 trees in total, if you planted fully) with a production of 1.2tonnes of walnuts per hectare (120 tonnes in total).
If the above is even close to correct, then you may need permission the infrastructure necessary to make the project feasible. Such as access roads, buildings to store the machinery necessary (whatever that machinery may be) for farming the land, maintaining the trees, harvesting the crop and an appropriate place for processing/packaging the produce. Car-parking and facilities for employees. Unless you have the necessary buildings available to you already, in which case you probably just need permission to change the use?
An agricultural advisor should be able to steer you through any planning applications needed and direct you to possible funding/grants for the project.
Good luck with your project.
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Not forgetting heavy vehicle access to take away the produce.
I am in Haute Vienne. Well the Chambre was very helpful and helped me to apply for the DDT permissions. But this permission has to come from the mairie as informed by my notary.
As for the bacteria thing, I am in touch with walnut farmer in Grenoble. He has been very helpful and is guiding me. I will check with him on the situation as he hasn’t mentioned anything about any bacterial infections yet.
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and, of course, the changing weather pattern has played havoc…
@BruceWayne
It might be useful for you to be in contact with more localised Walnut farmers…
Fabien Joffre is Président de l’AOP Noix du Périgord