Sustainable intensification of agriculture through agroforestry. Central aim of our project is 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.
Typical landscape of Montado with Holm oak (Quercus rotundifolia)
SouthEast Portugal. by João Palma
Mixed livestock browsing in holm oak montado
Photo by João Palma
Ploughing in between 14 year old walnut trees
Domaine de Restinclières, Montpellier, France. Photo by AGROOF
Silvoarable agroforestry under cork oak (Quercus suber)
near Portalegre, Portugal by João Palma
Belgium RAIN meeting
Sheep in Apple Orchards Loughgall
Northern Ireland
AFINET partners planting trees
Asse, Belgium
Forest Europe workshop, Hungary
Walnut and Maize
Montpellier, France by AGROOF
Agroforestry with willow used as medicinal fodder
Shropshire, UK. Photo by Jo Smith, ORC
Other Projects and Initiatives
AGFORWARD was a four-year project, developed by 23 organisations at the forefront of agroforestry research, practice and promotion in Europe, with the goal of promoting appropriate agroforestry practices that advance sustainable rural development. The project objectives were: i) increase our understanding of existing, and new extensive and intensive agroforestry systems in Europe; ii) identify, develop and demonstrate innovations to improve the ecosystem service benefits and viability of agroforestry systems in Europe using participatory research, iii) develop better adapted designs and practices for the different soil and climatic conditions of Europe, and iv) promote the wide adoption of sustainable agroforestry systems.
The objective of the Agrof-MM project is to train European agricultural stakeholders in agroforestry practices. The project will give them the opportunity to familiarise themselves with agroforestry, and to improve their knowledge of it, in order to work towards the development of agroforestry in the Mediterranean and mountain regions of Europe. The Agrof-MM project both reinforces and completes the European AgroFE project, which ended in December 2015. It thus widens the geographical scope and improves the level of training of the AgroFE project, as well as addressing new stakeholders.
Silvoarable agroforestry comprises widely-spaced trees intercropped with arable crops. This project builds on recent findings that indicate that modern silvoarable production systems are very efficient in terms of resource use, and could introduce an innovative agricultural production system that will be both environment-friendly and economically profitable. Growing high quality trees in association with arable crops in European fields may improve the sustainability of farming systems, diversify farmers incomes, provide new products to the wood industry, and create novel landscapes of high value. In support of the European Common Agricultural Policy, the SAFE project aimed at providing models and databases for assessing the profitability of silvoarable systems, and to suggest unified European policy guidelines for implementing agroforestry.