The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Their goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With 195 members – 194 countries and the European Union, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide.
From this agroforestry section on the FAO website, you can access different non FAO and FAO publications including the useful ‘Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Toolbox’ which takes you to various modules, tools and publications.
This page also contains information on a ‘Global Agroforestry Capacity Needs Assessment’ survey which was aimed at anyone involved in agroforestry-related activities around the world – with objectives to:
Provide a baseline of existing capacities on agroforestry globally.
Identify strengths, gaps, needs, and barriers to successful agroforestry design, implementation and scaling up.
Guide FAO’s capacity development efforts on agroforestry, to the benefit of all involved.
(The survey has now closed)
The European FARM LIFE project (involving 7 partner organisations) focuses on the transition towards climate-resilient, diversified and multi-layered agricultural systems, particularly agroforestry practices. It aimed to achieve this by sharing information, developing and demonstrating innovative adaptation strategies, and bringing together farmers, policymakers and other stakeholders.
A major part of the project activities involved a series of masterclasses in agroforestry which tackled technical, economic and legislative components of various subjects. The project worked with farmers to develop profitable agroforestry business models adapted to their specific contexts and conditions, a roadmap for effective implementation, and a transition toolkit (set of tools farmers, policymakers and social actors can use).
The project links with other EU projects and developing training tools, including a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), developing innovative agroforestry food products and marketing strategies, and connecting with policymakers to bring attention to the project outcomes at European and regional level (the Netherlands, Flanders).
You can access newsletters and videos from the website.
Via this website you can access information on long term experimental and demonstration sites of the Consortium Agroforestry Flanders and a range of agroforestry projects, both past and present, which provide a lot of useful practical information (introductory summaries usually in English, any outputs usually not).
Agroforestry offers opportunities to enhance farm resilience and respond to future challenges in Flemish (and Western European) agriculture, i.e. through diversification in production and supplying a wide range of ecosystem services. The expected increase in demand for locally produced fruit and nuts and biomass and high-quality wood products may make agroforestry a shock-proof investment for farmers. Agroforestry also potentially meets the social demand for eco-efficient agro-ecological production methods while being economically profitable. In addition to stumbling blocks regarding legal and administration issues, several technical, organisational and economical questions remain unanswered. The Consortium Agroforestry Flanders aims to tackle these issues throughout their activities and projects. It was founded with ILVO, Ghent University, Soil Service of Belgium, Inagro, Boerennatuur Vlaanderen, Wervel, BOS+ and Praktijkpunt Landbouw Vlaams-Brabant, and conducts scientific research, provides support to farmers, and feedback on policy.
Polish Agroforestry Association (OSA – Ogólnopolskie Stowarzyszenie Agroleśnictwa) is a non-governmental organisation, whose mission is to increase awareness of values of trees in agricultural landscape and to promote the practice of agroforestry across Poland.
The Association’s goals are to undertake, co-ordinate and support initiatives related to sustainable development of rural areas and to contribute to better links between science, economy and nature and landscape protection in Poland, in the context of agroforestry systems.
From the website you can access information on various projects and videos (in Polish), and there is a membership form you can complete.
The German Association for Agroforestry (DeFAF), a registered NGO, is an organisation committed to all issues related to the establishment, management, and promotion of agroforestry systems in Germany, believing it will contribute significantly to the protection of the climate, soil, and water as well as to the promotion of biological diversity in agriculture landscape and animal welfare. DeFaF supports any kind of agroforestry used both in conventional and ecological farming, is open to anyone interested in agroforestry, and considers itself as a point of contact for farmers interested in these practices, strengthening knowledge transfer between practice and science. DeFaF has created a database of agroforestry systems already existing in Germany in order to create a complete documentation and identify best practice examples. It provides information on agroforestry, preliminary advisory services, networking activities between practitioners, the sciences and politics, and policy-related research. It currently has >300 members (its grass-root ambition relies largely on voluntary contributions of its members). The DeFAF office resides in Cottbus, Brandenburg.
The OLGA project focuses on sustainable land use approaches and regional value creation in the Dresden region of Germany. As part of this it aims to promote the implementation of agroforestry systems along watercourses. The research focuses on investigating microclimatic effects of agroforestry structures on their immediate surroundings such as streams, as well as analysing woody plant physiology and vegetation development in and around the agroforestry system. The project lasts for 5 years (04/2020 – 03/2025) and will develop a transferable solution for implementing the EU Water Framework Directive, taking into account regional economic relations, interests of landowners, and flood prevention.
The research includes looking at the ecosystem services functions of agricultural trees and shrubs in watercourses, particularly in relation to water protection, climate protection and flood control. The economic perspectives and marketing potentials for farmers and landowners are also being explored, along with ways that agricultural woods can be used more widely as an energy resource and increase the use of renewable energies long term. Citizens in the region actively participate in the project through focus groups, real labs and other methods of citizen science and explore the added value that sustainable land use and regional food can have for their own environment and quality of life. You can subscribe to the newsletter and access various publications (mainly in German) from the website.
The RIVEAL project aimed to map and quantify key ecosystem services (ES) of riparian forests and predict the balance of ES under diverse climatic, land use and water management scenarios in the Portuguese fluvial landscapes. The project focused on three ES: Fluvial ecological integrity, carbon stocks and carbon sequestration, and direct and indirect socio-cultural values. Project expectations included determining the trade-offs and synergies of land-use conversion on ES of riparian forests. The factsheets that you can access from the website are particularly useful.
A webinar recording that is part of a series focusing on agroforestry and multiple benefits for Irish agriculture. This episode, facilitated by Pat Murphy (Head of Environment Knowledge Transfer Department, Teagasc), features Mark Gibson (Teagasc ConnectEd Manager), Dr Ian Short (Forestry Research Officer, Teagasc), Professor Jim McAdam (Queens University Belfast), and Mr Eugene Curran (Forestry Inspector, DAFM). It includes information on different kinds of agroforestry, multiple benefits, European research, carbon capture and carbon credits, generating income, regulatory impacts, and economic support, and features some interesting questions posed alongside discussion of practical management issues.
This is the recording of an online workshop hosted by the Organic Research Centre (ORC) in October 2021 and organised as part of the Farming the Future programme. It set out to explore how agroforestry could contribute towards the conservation and restoration of biodiversity, and the policy options that could support the realisation of these benefits. Chaired by Colin Tosh, Senior Agroforestry researcher at ORC, it features Tom Staton, University of Reading PhD researcher on agroforestry and biodiversity in arable systems (particularly focusing on natural pest control and pollination), Devon-based farmer Carolyn Richards, who reflects on her experiences of developing silvopasture with a view to better managing her herd and enhancing biodiversity, and Helen Chesshire – Senior Farming Advisor for the Woodland Trust who asks how the UK policy might help agroforestry achieve biodiversity goals. It also features a lively interactive discussion with delegates.
Short film created by the UK-based Soil Association through their involvement in the FABulous Farmers project exploring some of the benefits that can be experienced from different UK agroforestry systems. It features the Soil Association’s Head of Horticulture and Agroforestry Ben Raskin explaining what agroforestry is and showing a field at Eastbrook farm that has 19 different species of trees and nuts, and an alley cropping field that will provide shade, shelter and browse for cattle. Organic Research Centre’s Senior Livestock Researcher Lindsay Whistance talks about the important part trees can play in helping to manage carbon sequestration, nitrogen sequestration and methane. Martyn Bragg of Shillingford Organics explains the many benefits that have come from combining alleys of trees with vegetable crops, and Jon Perkin and the Apricot Centre’s Martina Brown-O’Connell, talk about the advantages of the system run at the Dartington Hall Estate, where sub tenants have taken on a strip of land and planted their own trees which they can take produce from.
