Farming System: Mixed

AFINET – A revitalization of a wood pasture in the Bakony

This video is a Hungarian innovation tutorial video on wood pasture restoration aiming to share farmer experiences on agroforestry system management. Produced as part of the AFINET project, it features Antal Varga at Zöldág Farm in Hungary, which is a ReForest living lab farm. Find out more about it here https://agroreforest.eu/living-lab-hungary-olaszfalu/

Alley cropping with strawberries: Two case-studies in Romania

Paper analysing two case studies that focus on the use of alley cropping in two sub-compartments in the south-east of Transylvania (Romania). Alley cropping (mostly with maize or melon as agricultural crops) is used on a very small scale. It is considered that the main factors restricting its application are (i) the lack of information on this agroforestry system, (ii) the lack of projects in the field and (iii) the lack of funding for agroforestry activities. This explains the field work that was undertaken and provides practical information particularly in relation to management along with benefits farmers can expect from applying this method.

SIGNAL – Sustainable intensification of agriculture through agroforestry

SIGNAL is part of the funding initiative BonaRes (Soil as a sustainable Resource for the Bioeconomy) which aims to improve soil functions through the development of sustainable management systems and increase understanding of soils, soil processes and soil functions. The project aims to evaluate whether and under which site conditions agroforestry in Germany can be a land use alternative that is ecologically, economically, and socially more sustainable than conventional agriculture. The effects of agroforestry systems on soil ecological properties are being investigated at 4 arable and 2 grassland sites in the north-east of Germany. Project information and various publications can be accessed via the website (mainly in German).

Quinta das Abelhas (“farm of bees”)

Quinta das Abelhas (‘A farm for the Bees’) is a project focused on developing, testing, and studying complex agroforestry systems in the Portuguese Alentejo. It was developed by Marc Leiber, a student of Ernst Götsc, who has implemented what have become known as syntropic farming techniques at Quinta das Abelhas, to restore degraded soil, provide a home for pollinating insects, and re-establish the water cycle to create a climate-resilient agroforest.
This gives you details of the ‘model farm’ layout integrating fruit, nut and vegetable crops, and beneficial impacts that have been observed. It was hoped that it could demonstrate that agriculture could be environmentally and financially rewarding for both the older farmers and younger generations that could be drawn back to the countryside… Results show that agroforestry is having a highly positive impact on productivity, while helping to drastically reduce the amount of irrigation and (organic) fertiliser required.
This is one of the ‘model farms’ featured on the reNature website – a consortium with a base in the Netherlands that brings together knowledge about regenerative agriculture, impact monitoring, and stakeholder engagement, to make the business case for regenerative agriculture around the world. They position themselves as being a “unique global agroforestry hub and service provider”

AgroForAdapt

AgroForAdapt is a EU LIFE project promoting agroforestry systems for climate change adaptation of agrarian and forestry sectors in Mediterranean areas. It focuses on two types of agroforestry systems: silvoarable and silvopastoral, with the aim of obtaining benefits resulting from the interactions between the trees and the crops or livestock.

The project aims to evaluate and demonstrate how Mediterranean agroforestry systems are a land use that promotes resilience to drought and forest fires, while improving the provision of multiple ecosystem services i.e. protecting biodiversity, income diversification, profitability, carbon fixation, landscape and socio-cultural values etc. It aims to increase the Mediterranean demonstrative agroforestry area by installing or improving the management of 291 ha of silvoarable systems and 511 ha of silvopastoral systems and inducing the replication of additional 300 and 1,075 ha, respectively. It is focused on developing and applying innovative tools to evaluate ecosystem services and vulnerability to climate change, facilitating the design and prioritisation of areas to install agroforestry systems, and evaluating the long-term performance of demonstrative agroforestry systems.

Various publications and resources will be accessible / can be accessed via the website (some are in Spanish only).

Spanish Farmers Reduce Fire Risk Through Sustainable Agroforestry Practices

A short film in Galicia, Spain, the European area with the highest density of fires, where there are some farmers and ranchers who practice traditional methods of agroforestry and livestock farming. It gives some insights into how mixing crops, trees and grazing animals on the same land can provide benefits for soil health, carbon sequestration and fire prevention. You can also access an interesting written article from the video description. The video is in Spanish with English subtitles.

Wakelyns Agroforestry: Resilience through diversity

Wakelyns, surrounded by a sea of large-scale conventional arable production, is an oasis of trees, alive with bird song and insects. Integrating trees for timber, energy and fruit production into an organic crop rotation, this 22.5 hectare innovative farm was established by the late plant pathologist, Prof. Martin Wolfe, to put into action his theories of agrobiodiversity being the answer to achieving sustainable and resilient agriculture. Marking 30 years of agroforestry at Wakelyns, this recently updated publication celebrates the work of Martin and Ann, fellow researchers from the Organic Research Centre and the wider research and Wakelyns community; as evolved and expanded on by their son David Wolfe and his wife Amanda from 2020. It tells the story of Wakelyns and includes sections on diverse cereal populations, impacts of added diversity on insects and birds, food and energy production, enterprise stacking, ramial woodchip trials, pond restoration and creation, research focused on tree / crop interactions, and sustainability assessments.

Agroforestry in the uplands

Three UK upland farmers talk about how they are integrating and using trees to their best advantage on their farms in this video by the Soil Association (supported by FABulous Farmers). They refer to the benefits of giving their livestock access to trees and hedgerows and give their insights in to why trees are good for the animals (through providing shelter, shade and browse/fodder), soil health, biodiversity, the environment (i.e. flood protection and carbon storage) and the farm income. The video features beef cattle and sheep farmer Andrew Barbour from Mains of Fincastle in Perthshire, sheep farmer Glansant Morgan from Pwllyrhwyaid Farm near Brecon in Wales, and dairy farmer Freya Meredith from Lower Withecombe Farm on Dartmoor in Devon. It also features Luke Dale Harris (Innovative Farmers silvopasture trial co-ordinator from FWAG SW) and Kate Still from the Soil Association Farming Team.

Silvopasture as a climate-resilient, sustainable grassland and forestry option

Recording of a presentation given at International Symposium on Climate-Resilient Agri-Environmental Systems (ISCRAES) – featuring Jim McAdam, Eugene Curran and Ian Short. It focuses on two trials in Ireland comparing the performance of silovapasture with that of grassland and woodland.

Forest gardening in Sweden – sweet chestnut, walnut etc in a forest-like ecosystem?

Short film focusing on the forest garden at farm Rydeholm on the Scandinavian Söderslätt. The main tree crops are sweet chestnut (Castaneva sativa), walnut (Juglans regia), hazelnut (Corylus), korean pine (Pinus koraiensis), almonds (Prunus dulcis), ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) and araucaria (Araucaria araucana). Biodiversity, ecosystem services equivalent to wild, forest-like environments and regeneration, have been set here as equal goals with the food production. The long-term vision is to replace the annual crops (cereals, oilseed rape and sugar beets) with tree crops; sweet chestnut and araucaria (which produces seeds) replacing cereals and hazelnut, and walnut replacing vegetable oil. The film is based on interviews with Anders Lindén, the sixth generation on the farm and one of the pioneers of the Swedish agroforestry movement. Food production has to take the increasing lack of natural resources (water, living soils and fossil energy), into account and agroforestry systems have been shown to be very beneficial in improving the resilience in agricultural systems.

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