AFINET News

Around 60 people attended the meeting, which included a visit to a burned cork tree stand área (on the summer of 2017).

During this gathering, partners and Innovation Brokers discussed relevant subjects concerning the development of the project and participated in four workshop sessions focusing in the most relevant bottlenecks and challenges regarding agroforestry that arose amongst nine involved regions to decide the best ways to approach them.

The day started with presentations covering the influence of trees on animal behaviour, the practicalities and economics of combining grazing animals with trees and grants and support available. Andrew then led us on a farm walk including a visit to his new wood pasture planting designed for stock grazing and shelter throughout the season.

The day centred around Tolly’s recently planted agroforestry system which has been integrated into his organic vegetable production system. Established in 2015, six single tree rows, a mixture of trees for fruit, timber and coppice products, have been planted with 20m wide cropping alleys in between. 

With a  group of fifty interested farmers and researchers, we visited Martin Crawford (Agroforestry Research Trust), Martyn Bragg (Shillingford Organics), Duchy Home Farm, and Iain Tolhurst (Tolhurst Organic).

With a  group of fifty interested farmers and researchers, we visited Martin Crawford (Agroforestry Research Trust), Martyn Bragg (Shillingford Organics), Duchy Home Farm, and Iain Tolhurst (Tolhurst Organic).

The aim of the meeting was to identify major problems of wooded rural landscapes in this part of Europe, particularly it was focused on wooded pastures in the Carpathian region.

The aim of the meeting was to identify major problems of wooded rural landscapes in this part of Europe, particularly it was focused on wooded pastures in the Carpathian region.

Alongside researchers and practicioners, within the group there were advisors, Rural Development technicians, representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, and member of the National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre.

A presentation of the project and its objectives was given as an introduction, after which participants were asked to identify bottlenecks/knowledge gaps and opportunities/constraints to agroforestry development in the area.

The stakeholders were invited to form three groups and discuss, by the participatory approach, of a specific issue related to the olive oil chain: climate and environment, socio-economy and policy. Each group of participants moved from a table to another in order to take part to any discussion.

30 RAIN members attended the meeting, which started with the presentation of the project, objectives and RAIN concept. During the meeting the participants were asked to identify bottlenecks/knowledge gaps and challenges/innovations from agroforestry systems covering silvopastoral, silvoarable and tree hedgerows systems. 

The meeting started with a walk around the farm where the people could see how the farm works, witness sheep herding with a sheep dog in practice, and share experiences about farm management, agroforestry and management of wood pastures.

The event was attended by nearly 30 participants, almost half of them practitioners. Within the group there were farmers, advisors, Rural Development technicians, members of the Galician Office of Climate Change, and the Galician Innovation Agency.

On the 22nd of July, a report on agroforestry was broadcasted on the Belgian national radio channel ‘Radio 1’. Furthermore, the same day an article on agroforestry was published at the news website www.deredactie.be. 

The meeting started with a visit to an experimental agroforestry field at ILVO, where a variety trial of hazelnut trees was recently established, and where the effects are studied of combining short-rotation coppice (willow) or hazelnut trees with laying hens on free-range use, animal welfare, soil conditions and plant growth.

Legislative obstacles were analyzed and ways of improving Agroforestry situation regarding its implementation and trees protection were discussed.

Over 200 people attended each event and the AFINET project was promoted in a variety of ways, with pull up banners and project leaflets and postcards on display on information stands at each event.

After a long day of discussions, partners visited Tolhurst Organics, an innovative farm specialized in organic food where they saw on field different agroforestry practices. 

The location and time remain the same: Observatório do Sobreiro e da Cortiça in Coruche.