This report takes a close look at eight established and working examples of agroforestry in the UK through the featured case studies, teasing out some of the lessons that can be learned from them. It also explores the related issues of carbon and climate; issues which will be integral to the direction that land-use takes over the coming decades.
It is a report for farmers, policy makers and all those who care about our land use, our environment, and our food systems.
This website provides information on agroforestry screening, mapping, environmental benefits on a regional scale, case study projects, and information on, and links to, farm management analytics software and design software for advisors.
Regen Farmer was founded by a serial tech entrepreneur and agroforestry designer and software engineer with wide experience from environmental modelling, GIS based web development and machine learning. It is focused on accelerating the adoption of regenerative land use practices, with a goal of supporting farmers, communities, governments and organisations to transition 5 million hectares of agricultural land to regenerative agroforestry by 2025 by enabling farmers to adopt and maintain regenerative agroforestry on a global scale. The aim is to achieve this by:
– Providing agroforestry project development solutions for farmers and agricultural advisors to make agroforestry more attractive for landowners.
– Developing management and monitoring software to ensure that farmers continue to practice regenerative agroforestry through continuous regenerative management support.
A project funded by the European Union to boost agroforestry through digital tools in order to meet climate, biodiversity and farming sustainability goals (launched Nov 2022).
The Digital Tools to help Agroforestry meet Climate, Biodiversity and Farming Sustainability Goals: Linking Field and Cloud (DigitAF) project is promoting agroforestry in Europe by developing digital decision-guidance tools so that trees are appropriately integrated on farms to achieve profitable food production, reduced net greenhouse gas emissions, and enhanced biodiversity. Tools are being developed for use by i) policy makers, ii) farmers, and iii) beneficiaries of agroforestry products and services. The tools are being developed in the context of six “Living Labs” in the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
Sponsor: European Union Horizon Europe with UKRI Innovate
The Irish Agroforestry Forum aims to:
a. Promote the potential and benefits of agroforestry as a multifunctional land use option that integrates trees into agricultural and horticultural systems at a range of levels and spatial orientations, to sustainably produce nutritious, wholesome food and quality timber, while delivering a wide range of ecosystem services.
b. Promote, demonstrate and encourage agroforestry best practice by co-ordinating and organising educational and training activity focused on advisors, consultants, officials/inspectors and farmers/landowners.
c. Encourage innovative on-farm trials, transfer knowledge derived from existing trials and highlight potential areas for future research.
d. Act as a co-ordinated voice for those practicing and promoting agroforestry, collate ideas and feedback, and advise and make submissions to the appropriate policy makers on the potential issues surrounding agroforestry support and measures, to encourage the expansion of agroforestry and enhance its delivery of services.
e. Develop proposals to introduce trees on to farms towards supporting the goal of sustainable and resilient land use, while delivering a wide range of ecosystem services and public goods on the island of Ireland.
From the website you can access content relating to specific areas of agroforestry.
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.
The Farm Woodland Forum, originally established as the ‘Agroforestry Research UK Discussion Forum’ in 1986, is a UK Charity that seeks to promote best practice with trees on farms. The Farm Woodland Forum holds an annual meeting in the UK or Ireland. The website provides links to tools and apps, research, agroforestry models, reports, technical guides and information on policy and regulation. Membership of the Forum provides access to an active e-mail discussion forum.
The Agroforestry ELM Test project was a collaboration between the Organic Research Centre, Woodland Trust, Soil Association, and Abacus Agriculture. The project investigated significant barriers to increased uptake of agroforestry by UK farmers in relation to payment incentives and advice and guidance. Project findings will inform design of the UK government’s Environmental Land Management scheme, which will reward farmers for the delivery of public goods.
The project was steered by a farmer-led working group including representation from 6 monitor farms and 6 other key stakeholders. The Agroforestry ELM Test aimed to gather evidence and opinion from a total network of 30 farms in six clusters representing the different types of agroforestry currently practiced in the UK (silvo-arable, lowland silvo-pasture, upland silvo-pasture, silvo-horticulture, silvo-poultry and wood pasture/grazed woodland). A series of 6 replicated regional stakeholder workshops were hosted by each of the monitor farms and thereafter the wider farming community was consulted in a series of interviews and an online survey. After a final consultation with stakeholders, a report was submitted to Defra summarising outcomes and lessons learned.
The Hub is a shared space to find resources, capacity building materials, networks, and other tools to support the transition towards mixed farming and agroforestry. It is a shared space for knowledge access at a national and European level.
You can filter by country or category of publication and are directed to a page that gives you a brief introduction to the resource and a direct link to it.
The AGROMIX project focuses on bringing together farmers, researchers and policymakers to explore agroecological solutions for more resilient land use in Europe, developing tools to implement these practices – with a focus on agroforestry and mixed farming. It provides information from previous projects, ongoing trial sites and experiences of farmers and land managers, to identify best options for transitioning towards these systems in each region of Europe.
It is involved in analysing current agricultural value chains, identifying obstacles to innovation in different agro-climatic and socio-economic contexts, and using these findings to present practical solutions to transition towards alternative land use systems.
From its network of 83 agricultural study sites, 12 pilot projects based in three agro-climatic zones (Atlantic, Continental, Mediterranean) are developing, testing and improving models and user-friendly tools to assist land managers in implementing and monitoring climate-resilient land use based on mixed farming and agroforestry principles. Results will be used to develop models and transition scenarios adapted to the climates of each agro-climatic region, presenting policy options for different scales and time frames.
On the website you can find information on the pilot projects and trial sites, scientific publications, videos, and a knowledge hub sharing various useful resources.
REFOREST: Agroforestry at the forefront of farming sustainably in multifunctional landscapes in Europe.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101060635 (REFOREST). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
UK partners are funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee [grant number 10039700].
Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association
EMEA brings together leading economists and high-level international and local experts to think for the future of the Euro-Mediterranean and Africa in a multi-polar world.