The Agroforestry Research Trust is an educational and research organisation based in Devon, England, and founded (by Martin Crawford) in 1992 as a registered non-profit making charity, to educate and conduct research into all aspects of agroforestry and perennial crops. They carry out practical research on their trial grounds (which includes a 25-year-old 2-acre forest garden at the Dartington Estate, south Devon), run courses, publish guides, and sell plants, seeds and books. Various academic and practical research projects have been and continue to be undertaken since its formation. Courses and tours are important aspects of their work. Their website hosts an online shop, information on courses, and lots of useful information on various aspects of agroforestry and different agroforestry systems.
This 150-page book, published in 2019, is downloadable from the Soil Association website. The handbook introduces the theory of agroforestry and looks at practical management and design considerations. There is also information on markets and pricing. It is divided into sections on what is agroforestry, agroforestry systems design, silvopasture, silvoarable, hedges, windbreaks, and riparian buffers, and the economic case for agroforestry. The authors are leading researchers and practitioners with decades of experience in agroforestry from around the world.
This project supported developments and innovations in organic and low input dairy systems to maximise on the potential of these systems to deliver environmental goods and biodiversity, and optimise on economic, agronomic and nutritional advantages to develop innovative and sustainable organic and low input dairy systems and supply chains. Of particular interest in the project outputs is a farmer handbook containing a series of technical notes.
The project included investigating the potential of integrating bioenergy production from short rotation coppice with dairy systems for alternative feed resources, improved animal welfare, enhanced productivity and environmental benefits. The website presents findings from the project.
The project AGFOSY was implemented under programme ERASMUS+. Seven organisations from six European countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Slovakia and Spain) were involved.
The ambition of the project (mainly focused on continental North and Central Europe) was to build a complex but flexible training system dealing with issues of agroforestry based mainly on case studies and best practice studies that will provide farmers with needed skills, knowledge, competences and motivation to implement agroforestry on their own farms. Training materials, a training platform, and short educational videos on the possibilities of agroforestry implementation on existing farms and the benefits of using it were developed. The links include a link to various study materials which are in the form of 10 modules – presentations with information about major agroforestry systems in Europe, ecological aspects of agroforestry, the historical context to agroforestry systems, management and practice of tree planting, silvopastoral agroforestry systems, silvoarable agroforestry systems, economy and the legal aspects in European agroforestry etc.
The AGFORWARD research project focussed on promoting agroforestry practices in Europe that will advance sustainable rural development. Material providing guidance on agroforestry innovation and agroforestry best practices was produced as part of the project. This series of leaflets (produced by Philippe Van Lerberghe from the Institute of Forestry Development in France and reviewed by various member of the AGFORWARD team), provide valuable guidance to farmers on how to plan, create and manage an agroforestry system. The leaflets focus on objectives for developing an agroforestry system (using alley cropping as an example), site selection, selecting tree species and planting material, planning the layout and spacing of trees, tree protection, land preparation and tree planting, and tree pruning and management to maximise revenue.
This project aimed to promote agroforestry practices in Europe that will advance sustainable rural development, i.e. improved competitiveness and social and environmental enhancement.
It had four main aims:
– To improve understanding of the technical, environmental and socio-economic functioning of existing and new extensive and intensive agroforestry systems;
– to identify, develop and field-test innovations related to provisioning and other ecosystem services (biodiversity, carbon storage, nutrient cycling, resilience, stress toleration) to improve the benefits and viability of agroforestry systems in Europe
– to develop and update designs and practices adapted for areas where agroforestry is currently not practised or is declining
– and to promote the wider adoption of appropriate agroforestry systems in Europe.
Central to the project was developing a number of participatory research and development networks where project participants worked with land managers and other stakeholders, using existing knowledge and experience of their own multifunctional systems, to identify key challenges and potential innovations to improve their systems. AGFORWARD used a participatory approach to ensure the effective involvement of all these stakeholders. In total, the project worked with 40 stakeholder groups and over 800 farmers and other stakeholders across 13 countries. All the major agroforestry systems in Europe were represented from Mediterranean areas in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal to the boreal areas of Sweden, and from grazed orchards in the UK to the wood pastures of Romania.
Spreadsheets can help agroforestry practitioners plan for agroforestry investments. The FarmTree Tool quantifies and forecasts the performance of agroforestry systems and can be used to design plot plans. It holds by default climate, soil and tree/crop/input data of a particular regions in the world. When practitioners key in plot cover (annuals, perennials) the tool accesses soil data and climate projections, and generates plot plans with 60+ vegetation, yield, carbon, financial, labour, soil fertility, hydrology, and other indicators.
Project designers require landscape or project-level economic and financial assessments, or carbon and water performance projections. Single-plot projections can be combined into project cost-benefit analysis, typically to help assess the economic feasibility annexes of project proposals.
The tool is available under license that comes with training.
