AFINET News

The objective of this operation is to develop and implement a sustainable model for the cultivation, harvesting and management of agricultural farm using a new agroforestry system (fruits shrubs/trees intercropped with herbs) and biomass heating system fueled by pellets. 

Seventeen stakeholders participated in the training session. Most of them were farmers, people who just started a mushroom business or had plans to start one, researchers and people who would like to grow mushrooms in their own garden or balcony.

This organic farm currently has 25 hectares of vineyard, 80 ha of olive grove, 270 ha of carob tree, solar panels, 1000 sheep, 600 ha of forest/pasture, and a Nature Reserve, and it’s located on Vale de Acor, Mértola, Alentejo.

Kilpiän tila, a 75-hectare organic farm, managed by Tuomas and Iiris Mattila, adapted very well to an exceptionally dry start of the Finnish summer. 

The 4th European Agroforestry Conference “Agroforestry as Sustainable Land Use” took place in Nijmegen (European Green Capital 2018), between 28th and 30th May 2018.

The 4th European Agroforestry Conference “Agroforestry as Sustainable Land Use” took place in Nijmegen (European Green Capital 2018), between 28th and 30th May 2018.

The 2nd European Symposium on Pollarding was held in Sare, France from the 1^st to the 3^rd of March 2018. It was organised by the French Agroforestry Association (AFAF), Euskal Herriko Laborantza Ganbara (EHLG), Maison Botanique de Boursay and Arbre et Paysage 32, with support from the European Agroforestry Federation (EURAF), the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) the Organic Research Centre (ORC) and the AFINET project.

The 2nd European Symposium on Pollarding was held in Sare, France from the 1^st to the 3^rd of March 2018. It was organised by the French Agroforestry Association (AFAF), Euskal Herriko Laborantza Ganbara (EHLG), Maison Botanique de Boursay and Arbre et Paysage 32, with support from the European Agroforestry Federation (EURAF), the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) the Organic Research Centre (ORC) and the AFINET project.

The fourth consortium meeting of AFINET took place from May 22nd to 25th in Krakow, and was held by polish partner IUNG-PNG.

Centro Nacional de Exposições, in Santarém, Portugal, welcomes “Feira Nacional de Agricultura”, dedicated this year to “Olive grove and olive oil”. There will be agricultural talks, equestrian events, food, olive oil and wine tasting, music concerts, the presence of practitioners, etc. AFINET project is attending the event.

33 people attended this event, organized by the distiller and beekeeper Vítor Menas (www.dalenguadiana.pt) and the botanist and ecologist Jannis Elsaesser (EcoInterventions), on the 27^th of May, in Monte da Paz Farm in Colos, Beja. 

On the 23^th of January 2018, the 2^nd RAIN meeting was organised in Belgium. Twenty-nine people, most of which being farmers, attended this meeting, that was organised in Beveren.

It gathered 19 people from the local agroforestry sector, including farmers, agroforestry advisors, nursery technicians, river officers, agriculture and forestry extentionists, representatives from the administration/government offices and the wood industry.

The second round of UK RAIN group meetings took place during January and February. In the UK we have chosen to develop our RAIN meetings as three sub-groups focussing on livestock, arable (combinable crops) and vegetable cropping systems with RAIN members choosing to join as many of these event as they wish depending on their preference and the subjects addressed. In total 92 people attended the events, an excellent turn out despite the chilly weather!

Rosa Mosquera, coordinator of AFINET, presented the talk  "Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems in Europe: Afforestation, Reforestation and Agroforestry" in the International Conference "Working across Sectors to Halt Deforestation and Increase Forest Area from aspiration to action" held in the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, on 20-22 February.

To promote this practice in Finland, it would be very important to provide more information to schoolchildren, students, farmers and the general public. The participants also discussed political challenges. 

A total of 28 stakeholders attended the 2nd RAIN meeting, more than 1/3 of them being practitioners (farmers/foresters).

The second RAIN meeting of the AFINET project was held on 18 January 2018 at the Institute of Agro-Environmental and Forest Biology (IBAF) of the National Research Council (CNR), Porano (TR).

Spanish RAIN met together for the second time on January 16^th. The meeting was held in Touro (A Coruña, Galicia, NW Spain) and was attended by around 45 agroforestry actors as practitioners, policy makers, researchers and producer’s associations.

After several weeks of intense dissemination of the 2nd PT RAIN meeting, a total of 36 RAIN members attended the 2nd Portuguese meeting, that took place on the 30^th of January, at Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA) in Lisbon.